P.E.I. man oldest gymnast to compete in nationals

At 35 years old, a P.E.I. man became the oldest gymnast to compete at the Canadian Gymnastics Championships on Thursday night.

Scott Chandler, who has competed in 16 national championships, has managed to keep his sense of humour about the fact that he's twice the age of most of the 900 gymnasts competing at the championships.

"They call me old man most of the time," he said, laughing.

Chandler started gymnastics when he was eight years old and dreamed of making the national junior team. He succeeded.

When he didn't make it to the Olympic level, he retired from the sport at age 18 to go to university.

"When I came back at the age of 28, I promised myself that this time around it had to be about something more than just winning medals," Chandler said.

"This time around it was about just the love and passion of the game for me."

That passion for the sport gave him one of the best finishes of his career — he placed ninth overall at the Canadian Gymnastics Championships last year while working full time.

"He did show a lot of talent when he was very young and I knew he would go far but no, you would never expect in our sport. We don't have any athletes of this age," said Jim Rand, a gymnastics coach.

Micah Ramsey, a gymnast competing at the nationals, said Chandler's long career is sending a message to others.

"I know that one day I want to be the oldest gymnast in nationals. He really inspired me."

Still, Chandler said much has changed since his early days when every gymnast used to have to do the same compulsory routines. Now, he plays it safe, choosing a clean performance over a risky one.

"Now it's just your best skills, the riskiest skills, the hardest moves, the hardest tricks. So especially for older guys like me it becomes difficult to play that game."

On Thursday night, Chandler told CBC News he was happy with his 14th place finish and his new place in the record books.

He's not talking about retirement yet.

"I said I'd do it as long as I'm having fun and I had lots of fun out there tonight."