Young New Brunswick gymnast sets his sights on Olympic dream

N.B. boy aspires to be an Olympian Nico Duval, an 11-year-old boy from New Brunswick, says he dreams of one day competing in the Olympics for gymnastics.

At just 11-years-old, Nico Duval knows exactly what he wants his future as a gymnast to look like.

“I want to go (to) the Olympics and win gold,” said the New Brunswick athlete.

He’s been training three times a week for three hours a session at Beauséjour Gymnos in Moncton, N.B., for the last two years -- and his hard work is paying off.

“It seems like he can do anything I tell him to do,” said Nico’s coach, Caroline Ouellet.

“I give him a challenge and he just does it right away.”

Adding, “He is a great, determined, motivated athlete. He always wants to try and get better. I’ve seen immense improvement, he’s going to go very, very far.”

While his accomplishments have impressed his local coaches, his skills have also grabbed the attention of judges. Nico recently competed in the Eastern Championships in Quebec back in May.

“I won two golds, two bronze and one silver,” he said.

With five medals around his neck, his coaches laughed that he was very easy to find at the competition because they could hear the medals as he walked around.

“In New Brunswick, I don’t think we’ve ever had an athlete come home with five medals before,” said Ouellet.

“So it was just amazing, I was so proud of him, he’s worked so hard, so he absolutely deserved it, but it was just surreal. A surreal moment, we were really excited for him.”

While he’s only competed a handful of times before the Eastern Championships, Nico took home gold medals in all four disciplines at the provincial competition in Fredericton in April.

For Nico’s parents, Stephanie and Sebastien Duval, they say his quickly advancing gymnastics career came as a bit of a surprise. They say while he’s always loved trampoline, they didn’t expect him to go so far so quickly.

“I think when we see him in action and then hear his vision for what he wants to accomplish, it’s kind of clear that he’s got that locked in,” said dad, Sebastien.

“It’s such a unique sport and it’s a unique discipline and I think more boys should get involved and try out. It’s pretty cool,” he added.

They say Nico is calm and focused during competitions and bringing home medals is just the icing on the cake.

Although Nico’s biggest goal is the Olympics, he is also hoping to compete in the Canada Games in four years when he’s old enough.

“We’re very proud of him and everything that he’s accomplished so far, just the hard work that he’s done, and we’re happy for him that he’s found something he likes with a team that he loves, coaches that he really likes too -- he loves training with them,” said Stephanie.

Nico says he’s made several friends since joining the competitive team, including a new best friend.

While excitement is still high from the Eastern Championships, Nico’s focus right now is back to training for his next competition in January.

“We warm up, we go on trampoline, we do conditioning and we do double mini and floor and we stretch at the end,” he explained.

As he continues to reach for his Olympic dreams, he says he’s going to train hard and do his best.