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Paralympic gold medallist shot putter Greg Stewart announces retirement

After 20 years in high-performance sport Stewart is "going out on top"

A year after winning a gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in the shot put, last week Kamloops, B.C. native Greg Stewart announced his decision to leave the sport in an Instagram post. He shared his feelings about moving on, calling his retirement “bittersweet.”

Photo: Andrew Snucins                                                                                                                                                                

“My life in sport has been a story of adaptation, understanding, hard work, commitment and fun,” Stewart said in his post. “I have struggled many days. The struggle to show up, the struggle of whether I’m good enough, the struggle of someone being better than me, the struggle of being disabled in an able body world.”

Born without the lower portion of his left arm, Stewart competed in able-bodied sport most of his life and excelled at basketball and volleyball. He played on the varsity basketball team at Thompson Rivers University, and didn’t move on to shot put until 2017.

Stewart commented that leaving his sport on a high note was an easy thing to do: “I was just at this place where I was like, ‘I just don’t have a passion for this.’ I think I’ve created something that not many people get to do, and I like to leave it there and focus on things that I’m more passionate about.”

Stewart is not short on plans to fill the time he previously spent training. He hopes to work on his business in the automotive recycling sector and enjoy his relationship with partner Taylor Shantz. He looks forward to “exploring what it’s like to not be an athlete,” he adds.

Stewart continues to be passionate about speaking out about mental health issues. He hopes to continue to “support people, have difficult conversations, speak from a place of vulnerability, because in a place of vulnerability there are tons of opportunities for growth.”

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