Olympic-size dreams

Published 7:34 am Friday, February 29, 2008

Little did Les McClure realize that when he got tickets to the men’s gymnastics competition at the 1990 Seattle Goodwill Games that his move would ultimately decide the destiny of Brett, his youngest son.

Nine-year-old Brett McClure was enamored with what he saw that day, so much so that when the McClure’s returned to their home in Mill Creek’s Fairway neighborhood that night, Brett had pillows on the floor doing flips.

Maybe that memory will be in the mind of Brett McClure, now 23, when he takes the floor in Athens, Greece next month for the mens gymnastics competition at the Summer Olympics, his first appearance in amateur sport’s premier event.

“It’s been his dream ever since he was nine-years-old,” Les McClure said about his son and the Olympic Games.

Already athletic, Brett McClure played baseball and soccer, but soon, he was interested in doing gymnastics. He wanted to begin training. So Les McClure struck a deal with his son – if he could do 15 hand-stand push-ups against the wall, he would take him to a gymnastics gym.

Brett McClure, then a student at Mill Creek Elementary School, had been practicing on his own. He achieved dad’s goal, and dad fulfilled his end of the bargain by taking Brett to Cascade Elite Gymnastics, which was then in Lynnwood.

Right away, gym staff put the youngster through a series of tests, to see what level to start him at.

Afterward, he was described as “phenomenal,” Les McClure said. “He had some ability the minute he walked through the door.”

Brett’s athletic ability was a bit of a surprise, since most of his family is not athletic. Les played football, baseball and competed in wrestling while in high school in Sunnyside, but Les’ grandfather ran track and field.

With the discovery of Brett’s talent, gymnastics not only became the major part of his life, it became a significant part of the family’s life.

“We got to do a lot of travel while he was at the junior level,” said Judy McClure, Brett’s mother. “We did a lot of regional travel to go to his meets. We had never really traveled before, and we just wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

Les McClure also took an active role in helping his dedicated son train.

“We would get up at six every morning and he would do hundreds and hundreds of circles,” Les McClure said of his son training on the pommel horse, which is now Brett’s best event. “His days were always filled, with six days a week of training 13 hours a day.”

Later, as Brett moved on to Heatherwood Middle School and Jackson High School, his older brothers Les McClure Jr. and Dustin helped out by taking him to practices after they got their driver’s licenses.

“He was always at the gym, day in, day out,” said Les McClure. “That’s the way he was raised – always give 100 percent.”

Seven years after taking up the sport and training with Wayne Kerr of Cascade Elite, Brett McClure made the national team – and life would change significantly for the family.

For starters, Brett had to finish his high school diploma online, because of traveling with the national team. The other, tougher change: a new sequestered lifestyle. Coaches at the national level have deemed that tactic necessary in order to avoid any distractions from family and friends.

“Brett has had a wonderful experience with the national team. He’s been all over the world,” Judy McClure said. “If they go to Paris for a meet, he’s lucky if he’ll see the Eiffel Tower. The only way they generally do any sightseeing is if the coaches want to do some sightseeing.”

As a further example of the kind of regimented life their son leads, the McClures say they’re lucky to see Brett for three days at Christmas.

“It was more restrictive for us, not being able to see him,” Les McClure said. “Some of the meets he was competing in were pretty trivial events. They weren’t against the Russians or somebody like that.”

But should Brett win an Olympic medal, any restrictions are being cast aside. Les and Judy, as well as their other two sons, will be in Athens for the Games.

“We as a family, we’re going to celebrate with him – there’s no negotiating that one,” Les McClure said.