Back to the track: Moyse hoping for podium finish with rookie partner

She hasn't trained on a bobsleigh track in more than three years, but Olympic gold medallist Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I., is thrilled to be planning a comeback to the sport.

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It wasn't the lure of a third gold medal that prompted the 39-year-old to take another run at bobsleigh. She'd already been approached in March by her former teammate, driver Kaillie Humphries, and turned her down.

Rather, it was an email from rookie pilot, Albertan Alysia Rissling, askingMoyse to provide her golden expertise.

"All of a sudden, I had that message which made me shift my perspective, and it just made me realize what an impact I could potentially make on the development of the program and how I could help rookie athletes achieving their goals," said Moyse, who talked to CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin via Skype from Calgary Tuesday.

"The challenge of coming back was also appealing," she said, adding she hopes to reach the podium with Rissling. "I thrive off challenges."

The final decision came about a week and a half ago, Moyse said, and she booked her ticket to Calgary to begin training.

'Concerned a little bit'

"I'm excited for her for the possibilities," said Sharon Moyse, Heather's mother. "I'm also concerned a little bit because she's had a surgery and some back issues."

"She thinks she'll be there in good shape to do it, so have to trust her," Sharon added.

Moyse has been dealing with a back issue since June and wasn't sure she would be able to come back, but now feels confident she can. She also had two hip surgeries in 2014, both before and after the Sochi games.

Because she did not intend to return to Olympic competition, Moyse said she didn't rehabilitate her hip as aggressively after Sochi.

"The therapists have reassured me it's not an injury ... it's more a matter of alignment, and things just being pulled out of place," Moyse explained. "That's for the therapists to help me figure out."

'I really want to help'

Mentally, Moyse said, "it's hard when you're coming into a sport knowing you're going to potentially make some other people uneasy."

Any time people come back or come in to a sport, she said, there's always apprehension from the athletes who are there.

"I just have to keep focusing on the fact that I'm truly coming back to help," she said. "I really want to help make this program stronger, and the fact that besides Kaillie, there are no other Olympic athletes within the women's program."

"Going back to bobsledding is in alignment with my business it is truly about empowering someone else," Moyse said.

Her "business" is motivational speaking "speaking with and encouraging people to recognize their limiting fears, questions their assumptions, and challenge their self-limiting beliefs of what they can accomplish" Moyse said on her Facebook page.

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