Kristan “Kris” Burley of Truro, Nova Scotia is an artistic gymnast who competed at the highest international level. Burley was the first of his kind from Nova Scotia. Not only that, he has been the precursor of Olympians like David Kikuchi and Ellie Black.

As a five-year-old he began as a Truro Spartan and later honed his skills at the Alta Gymnastics club under the discerning gaze of Tak and Mary Kikuchi, David’s parents. Burley also represented Nova Scotia at the Canada Games in 1983 in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. There, as a 9-year-old he was up against the likes of Ontario’s Curtis Hibbert who would later go on to become a world championship medallist and one of Canada’s most successful male gymnasts of all time.

Burley became globally renowned at his craft, a four-time national champion and a long serving captain of the Canadian men’s gymnastics team. Beyond that he won six Commonwealth Games medals as well as recording four podium finishes at the Pan American Games in addition to representing Canada at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Arguably Burley’s greatest competitive moment came at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, BC. It was there that he delivered the defining performance on floor exercise which ensured a team gold medal for the underdog Canadians.

Beyond his competitive career, Burley has made a difference as Canada continues to strive for inclusive sport. As a gay athlete he has worked tirelessly with the Canadian Olympic Committee’s One Team initiative and more recently served on Gymnastics Canada’s task force on LGBTQ rights and diversity.

As a child Kris Burley drove his mother crazy by tumbling all over the place at the local YMCA in Truro. She put him in gymnastics and he ended up becoming a pioneer for so many athletes from Nova Scotia and Canada who have retraced his journey.