How Dylan Schmidt manages his well-being during lengthy periods away from home
The trampoline gymnast left his New Zealand home, and dog Taco, on 23 June, to return only following the World Championships, which take place in Birmingham from 9 to 12 November. Olympics.com documents the five-month period leading up to the championships.
Trampoline
There's a video of 12-year-old Dylan Schmidt after he came back from the 2009 Junior World Trampoline Championships, in which he's saying to camera: "I want to be New Zealand's first trampolinist to compete at the Olympic Games."
Five years later, that box was ticked with Schmidt coming in seventh at Rio 2016. And since then the now 26-year-old has achieved even more.
– The first New Zealander to win an Olympic medal in any gymnastics discipline, a bronze at Tokyo 2020. Tick.
– The first Kiwi to win a world championship medal, and gold at that, at the 2022 edition in Bulgaria. Tick.
– Plus, the incredible accolade of being the first non-Chinese trampoline athlete to claim the men's individual world title since 2007.
And how about, the first New Zealander to defend a world trampoline title?
Well, that's yet to be decided as Schmidt takes to the stage at the 2023 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships taking place in Birmingham, Great Britain from 9 to 12 November.
The event also offers world titles in double-mini trampoline and tumbling, synchro trampoline and the team event. Adding to the excitement, the sole Olympic discipline of men's and women's individual trampoline has up to 16 quota berths for Paris 2024 available so there's more at stake this time around.
Especially for one Dylan Schmidt who is eyeing gold in Paris as his next defining history-making moment.
Pursuing his trampolining goals has meant enforced lengthy periods away from home, and his beloved dog Taco, but after a near-career ending knee injury in 2018, followed by COVID lockdown, Schmidt is making the most of each opportunity on his trampoline journey, both on and off the trampoline bed.
Olympics.com documents Schmidt's 2023 season as he heads into the last event before returning home, and it is one that has so much riding on it.
On the road to Paris 2024
Schmidt left New Zealand for the next period on his road to – he hopes – a third Olympic Games on quite the auspicious day, 23 June, also known as Olympic Day.
He's not been back home since.
Alongside his teammates, the South Islander has been on the road, competing and training in various locations on his journey toward a trip to France in July 2024.
His first international competition of the 2023 season was at the Santarem World Cup in Portugal in July in which he secured third place behind Yan Langyu, the 2021 world champion, and rising star Wang Zisai.
But alongside trampoline competition and training, pictures on his social media platforms shared the other side of his overseas journey such as appreciation for his parents who had joined him in Portugal for the first competitions of the season, plus photos of the Kiwi team taking in the local sights under cloudless blue skies.
A few days later and 140km down the road in Coimbra, Schmidt secured fifth in the second of the four World Cups in which he'd compete in 2023. Disappointed with the result, Schmidt acknowledged the best routine of the competition was in the semi-finals, concluding, "Disappointing final but a 5th place and solid points for Paris. Onto the next".
The points toward Paris to which he refers are one of the qualification pathways* for the Games in France.
Potentially half the Olympic field could be determined in Birmingham, at the World Championships, with a minimum of four and maximum of eight gymnasts of each gender earning quota berths** for their country to compete at the Paris Olympic Games.
The remainder of the 16-strong Paris fields in men’s and women’s trampoline will be filled based on the results of the 2023-2024 FIG Trampoline Individual World Cup series, hence the importance of Schmidt's points tally, and the 2024 continental championships in the first half of next year.
The penultimate World Cup of the season was in Florida in August, the competition in Palm Beach preceded by training and sightseeing in Montreal, Canada and New York. Securing second place provided another important points haul.
Week seven on the road took in Texan cities - Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas - swimming in lakes and catching an NFL game before heading to Nashville and Boston for more hotel rooms, concerts, and a UFC fight.
"Heck of a few weeks," Schmidt posted at the beginning of September. "Back to work now. In the UK for a wee while."
*Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
**As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Final push of the 2023 trampoline season
Despite the workload increasing leading up to the 2023 World Championships, the importance of living a balanced life, especially while away from home for so long, continues for Schmidt in the UK.
Cycling on Bournemouth beach, followed by a quick trip to Paris, before competing at the British Championships in Birmingham – the ultimate preparation for the Worlds in the same arena.
Week 14 and 15 took in the last World Cup of 2023, in Varna, Bulgaria in October, in which Schmidt didn't make the final, but took positives from the experience nevertheless, stating, "Not the result I was after but good growth as always, looking forward to showing what I’ve been working on at worlds in a month".
A game of golf, a cold swim in the sea near Bath, and a pithy quote summed up Week 17: "Some local sightseeing and deep cliff thoughts. Also trained."
The long run away from home, culminating with the biggest competition of the season that has so much at stake, is now almost at an end.
"Week 19 - Last week in my home away from home and a quick stop in Oxford on the way to Birmingham for worlds," Schmidt posted alongside the likes of two-time Olympic medallist and fellow history-maker, Bryony Page, the first Olympic medallist from Great Britain in the sport, a like-minded soul.
And so, with one last push before he heads home, Schmidt hopes that the effect of a balanced life around his sport in which he takes time to stop and smell the roses, will help him reap even more rewards. Specifically, Olympic gold.