Kris Burley

Kris Burley
— Gymnast —
Country represented	Canada
Born	(1974-01-29) January 29, 1974 Truro, Nova Scotia
Medal record Men's gymnastics Representing  Canada Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata Floor exercise 1995 Mar del Plata Vault 1999 Winnipeg Team 1999 Winnipeg Vault Commonwealth Games 1994 Victoria Men's team 1994 Victoria Parallel bars 1994 Victoria Vault 1994 Victoria Floor 1998 Kuala Lumpur Men's horizontal bar 1998 Kuala Lumpur Men's team

Kristan "Kris" Burley (born January 29, 1974 in Truro, Nova Scotia) is a Canadian gymnast, who has represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games.^[1]

Originally from Truro, Nova Scotia, he was based in Richmond Hill, Ontario^[2] and Fredericton, New Brunswick^[3] during his competitive career.

Competition

He was a competitive athlete from 1989 to 1999,^[1] winning four national championships in gymnastics during his career^[1] and representing Canada at the World Championships in Gymnastics, the Commonwealth Games, the Pan American Games and the Olympics.^[1]

In his first national championship, he won the junior-level all around with 108.1 points to 101.6 for his nearest competitor.^[4] He also qualified for several senior-level events despite being just 16 years old at the time, and won the vault and floor events at that level as well.^[4] He won the national senior men's all-around in 1995.^[5]

Commonwealth Games

At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Burley won three silver medals as a solo competitor in floor, vault and parallel bars.^[6] In the men's team event, he was the last floor performer after teammates Alan Nolet, Richard Ikeda and Travis Romagnoli; in what he would later describe as one of the best performances of his life, he scored 9.55 to secure the gold medal for the Canadian team.^[3]

At the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he won a silver medal in the men's horizontal bar, and a bronze medal in the men's team event.

Pan American Games

Burley won two bronze medals as a solo competitor and one bronze medal with the Canadian team at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina,^[7] and one bronze medal at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Olympics

He competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, but did not win any medals.^[8]

Honours

He was named male athlete of the year by Sport New Brunswick in 1997,^[3] and by Gymnastics Canada in 1996 and 1998.^[3]

Post-competition

Burley announced his retirement from competition in 1999,^[3] and subsequently worked as a television production assistant^[3] and served on the board of directors of the Association of Canada's National Team Athletes.^[1] He worked with Cirque du Soleil for several years as a performer in Alegría and as assistant artistic director of Dralion.^[1] He later worked on the communications and media team for Toronto's bid to host the 2015 Pan American Games.^[1]

Openly gay,^[9] he is also a spokesperson for the Canadian Olympic Committee's program to combat homophobia in sport.^[9]

References