Nathan Gafuik


Nathan Gafuik is a Canadian gymnast, who has competed at two Summer Olympics and has won medals at Commonwealth level.

Early life

He took up gymnastics at the age of four and has achieved gymnastic success despite a diagnosis of Addison's disease at the age of 15. He won the Canadian junior all-round title at the 2003 Canadian National Championships, leading him to be named as Canada's alternate at the 2004 Olympic Games, although he was unused.

Gymnastics career

Early gymnastics career

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, he won three medals, a gold and two silvers. The gold came in the men's team event, with the silvers coming in the men's all-round and the men's vault. That year he was also part of the Canadian men's team that came 6th at the World Gymnastics Championship in Aarhus, the best result ever for a Canadian team. He won senior Canadian national titles in the vault, the parallel bars and the floor.

2008 Summer Olympics

He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing in 17th place in the men's all-round, the second best performance ever by a Canadian gymnast.

2012 Summer Olympics

Canada's only male gymnast to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Gafuik's preparation for the Games was hampered by a thumb injury, severe enough to require surgery. He did not compete in all of the events, sitting out the other apparatus qualifiers to concentrate on the high bar, his favoured event. Unfortunately, his score of 13.866, due to a fall from the bar, was not enough to qualify him for the final.

2014 Commonwealth Games

He was part of the Canadian team that took bronze in the men's team event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, along with Zachary Clay, Anderson Loran, Kevin Lytwyn and Scott Morgan.