Richelle Aiko Simpson (born November 16, 1982) is a retired Canadian artistic gymnast and current acrobat for the renowned

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

company. An elite level gymnast for five years, representing the Canadian National Team at both

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

and the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

competitions during that period, Simpson enjoyed her career highlights as an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

collegiate student-athlete – competing as a member of the

Nebraska Cornhuskers women's gymnastics The Nebraska Cornhuskers women's gymnastics team represents the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference. Since being established in 1975, the program has won twenty-three conference championships and qualified for the NCAA Women ...

program. She remains one of the program's finest ever gymnasts, holding a total of four individual school records. Additionally, she was the first Nebraska gymnast to receive first-team All-American awards in all five events, and is one of only two Nebraska gymnasts to win an NCAA National all-around title – an accomplishment she achieved in 2003.

Life and career

1982–97: Early life and career beginnings

Richelle Aiko Simpson was born on November 16, 1982 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to parents, Richard and Ruth Simpson. Although she started gymnastics classes at the age of 3 and a half years old, Simpson wasn't a natural; however, she soon progressed – and was a provincial level athlete in 1994; at the age of eleven. At this time, Simpson was training at the Gyros Gymnastics Club program in

. Shortly after the 1994 season, Richelle moved to the Winstonettes Gymnastics Association club in

Unionville, Ontario Unionville is a suburban district and former village in Markham, Ontario, Canada, 2 km (2.5 mi) west of Markham Village (the City of Markham's historic downtown), and 33 km (20.5 mi) northeast of Downtown Toronto. The bou ...

; the same program that created

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Olympian and

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

gymnast Christina McDonald – training under the direction of Leonid Grakovsky and Debbie Vidmar. After winning the provincial Level 3 title in the spring of 1996, Simpson exceeded expectations by transitioning from the provincial stream to the High Performance program. As a result, she received a qualification berth to the 1996 Elite Canada competition. A year later, during the mid-May 1997, Richelle participated in her first Canadian National Gymnastics Championships; making the Junior Elite division. After a strong first day of competition, tying for third position with

Lise Leveille Lise Annique Leveille (born April 14, 1982, in Burnaby, British Columbia) is a French Canadian gymnast who represented Canada at the 2000 Olympic Games. After graduating from Handsworth Secondary School in North Vancouver (district municipality) ...

and qualifying to three event finals, Simpson sustained an injury during the second day's warm-ups and was forced to withdraw from the competition. As her injury wasn't too serious, Richelle was able to participate in the 1997 Elite Canada competition where she placed thirteenth – earning a qualification berth to the Senior High Performance the following season.

1998–99: Senior International Elite career

To open her inaugural senior season, Simpson participated at both the Bluewater Invitational and the Wild Rose competition; finishing eighth in the all-around at both. At these competitions, Simpson was competing against renowned international gymnasts such as

Elena Zamolodchikova Elena "Zamo" Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova (russian: Елена Михайловна Замолодчикова; born 19 September 1982) is a Russian former artistic gymnast, and four-time Olympic medallist. In 2015, she was inducted in the Inte ...

Ludmila Ezhova Ludmila Ezhova Grebenkova ( (Lyudmila Yezhova Grebenkova), born 4 March 1982) is a Russian former competitive gymnast. She won bronze in the team event at the 2004 Summer Olympics and four medals at the World Championships. Career Ezhova was a m ...

and

Brenda Magana Brenda is a feminine given name in the English language. Origin The overall accepted origin for the female name Brenda is the Old Nordic male name ''Brandr'' meaning both ''torch'' and ''sword'': evidently the male name Brandr took root in areas ...

. Poised for more international success, Richelle competed at her second National Championships, held in late May, in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

. A rough first day of competition left her in twenty-first place, despite qualifying to both the vault and floor event finals. However, a competent second day result rendered her to fourteenth in the all-around. Richelle finished her first senior season at the Elite Canada, placing in ninth all-around; after debuting some new and dynamic skills. Simpson celebrated her best ever performance at the 1999 Canadian Championships in

Burnaby, British Columbia Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard Inl ...

– after she tallied a two-day score of 72.549 to place fifth in the all-around. Initially touted to make either the

team and/or the

team, she wasn't selected to either due to the high level of contenders, and battling through illness just after Nationals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Richelle 1982 births Living people Gymnasts from Toronto Canadian female artistic gymnasts Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Gymnasts at the 2003 Pan American Games Nebraska Cornhuskers women's gymnasts NCAA gymnasts who have scored a perfect 10 Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 20th-century Canadian women 21st-century Canadian women