Calgary gymnast Kyle Shewfelt's performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics launched him into superstardom -- and he's taking his home gym with him.

Shewfelt is the first Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal in artistic gymnastics and the first Canuck to win gold during these Games.

The 22-year-old's exploits at the Games have shone the spotlight on the Altadore Gymnastic Club, 101 6303 30 St. S.E., the city gym where the homegrown Olympic champion came of age as an athlete.

"(The interest) is huge," said club business manager Nadine Van Wyk, who expects registrations to reach new heights in the wake of Shewfelt's gold. "Everybody sees Kyle on TV, so they think that if he can do it, they can do it."

Shewfelt's success is "so exciting," because it beat the odds, said Altadore women's head coach Tammy Andreotti.

"For a club in little old Alberta to produce an Olympic champion is unfathomable," she said. "The chance of us being part of something like this is so minute ... people will take notice."

But success in the international arena is not new to the club.

Altadore, which now boasts more than 3,000 members, also produced the province's first female gymnastics Olympian.

Jennifer Wood participated in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and, although she didn't medal, she put Alberta and the club on the Olympic stage. "The club realized early on what they had to do to support someone of that (talent)," said Wood.

But apart from raising the club's profile, Shewfelt's performance also raises expectations, said Van Wyk.

"Our programs are definitely feeling some pressure to perform and get results -- we've proven that we can in the past and we'll prove it again in the future," she said.

And the future looks bright as at least one of the club's young gymnasts looks like a future Olympic hopeful.

Altadore coaches hope Alex Seifert, 14, will get a chance to represent Canada, and the club, in 2008 or at the 2012 games.