The best moment on the mat for B.C. gymnast Shallon Olsen is when she sticks her landing.
On Thursday during the women's finals at the Northern Sport Centre, Olsen had plenty of opportunity to do just that, considering she made the finals in all four events.
She medalled in three of them.
"After I hit it I feel pretty proud. It's just the best feeling in the world," said the 14-year-old, who won two silvers (one in floor and one in vault) and took a bronze in uneven bars. She came fourth in beam.
"It's amazing," said Olsen of her performance, her three medals hanging heavy from her neck.
She said she wouldn't have done anything differently.
"That's the best I could do. I'm happy about my performance."
That makes five medals total as Olsen helped Team B.C. win bronze in the team event Sunday, and added a silver medal Tuesday for the female all-around competition.
It's also the landings that tell Olsen if she has a good chance to rank high.
"If I stick my landing I know that it's been good and I can be happy about it."
In her final event, floor, she stuck every landing for a score of 15.85, just 0.4 behind gold-medallist Megane Roberts from Ontario. She was a blur of blue across the floor and at one point, paused with precision, lifting her foot high above her head before launching her body across the floor.
In vault, she was .05 off of Ontario's Roberts again for the silver medal.
"What I love about gymnastics is just the adrenaline rush," she said, especially the energy high right before she steps on the mat. It's what helps motivate her for the routine.
She doesn't have any rituals before an event, just a silent running commentary of positive words: 'I can do this. You can do it.'
Olsen said it's hard to explain how she controls her movements and so consistently sticks her landings.
"It's natural," she said.
The Vancouver athlete first stepped foot in a gym as a precocious three-year-old.
"I was always really energetic and like hyper so my mom put me in gymnastics. It was a perfect match for me because she wanted to get rid of my energy."
That verve has kept Olsen in gymnastics competitively for the last seven years, and brought her to her second Canada Winter Games.
That makes it seven medals total for her. In Halifax in 2011, she was the youngest competitor and came away with two medals. She was 10 at the time, and the coaches had to apply for an exception to get her in the competition, but the event at the Northern Sport Centre doesn't compare to her experience four years ago, Olsen said.
"It's so much more amazing than the last. Because there's more competitors," she said, adding the competition is tougher too.
Her experience is what her coach Vladimir Lashin said sets her apart from others as one of the country's most promising young gymnasts.
"She's a very good hope for next Olympics," said Lashin, adding athletes must focus "like the bullet on a gun."
"Because one small mistake and (they would) be off of the medal."
Although he said it's difficult to promise anything in gymnastics, Olsen has a very good chance to go far.
"She's so experienced and she knows already what kind of mistake, how to prevent this mistake."
Olsen said that dream is what keeps her practicing day after day.
"I want to reach it so badly, so every time I go to training I just have that goal in the back of my mind, knowing it's right there and it's so close."
