Becky Downie talks about 'special time' as Olympic gold quest continues
The British artistic gymnast first competed at an Olympics in 2008 and has been on a lurching rollercoaster ride ever since, including the sudden loss of beloved brother Josh, still very much part of Downie's journey as she eyes Paris 2024.
"If I actually pull this off, it's going to be pretty crazy," beamed Becky Downie when talking exclusively to Olympics.com ahead of her first competition of the 2024 artistic gymnastics season, the Cairo Apparatus World Cup taking place from 15-18 February.
The 2019 World silver medallist on bars lit up when talking about her dream of being selected for one of the five spots on the British women's team for Paris 2024, and with it, a chance to, finally, claim an elusive Olympic medal, and gold at that.
Then, a pause. "But yeah, I just try to take it one step at a time as well."
Downie's experiences since her first Olympic showing – at Beijing 2008 where she came an incredible 12th in the all-around competition at a time when British gymnastics was only just making inroads onto the world scene – are such that in a recent documentary by former team videographer for UCLA Gymnastics Deanna Hong, entitled simply, 'Comeback', the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic didn't even warrant a mention.
For the record, Becky and younger sister Ellie – the latter a retired gymnast with two World medals and a history-making European all-around title to her name – entertained neighbours during lockdown as a by-product of dragging apparatus, such as a low beam, onto the driveway of their shared family home in Nottingham, central England, in order to continue training.
The documentary instead focuses on the continuation of Downie senior's journey, the end result she hopes will be becoming "the first female Olympic champion for Great Britain".
- As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
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Paris 2024 quotas all to play for as artistic gymnastics FIG Apparatus World Cup series begins
Becky Downie and Simone Biles wait for a uneven bars score at the 2019 World Gymnastics Championsips in Stuttgart.
Becky Downie on learning to live with loss
The goal has remained the same, despite challenging times, including Becky and Ellie's prominence in calling for reform within the gymnastics community for which they were recognised with MBEs in the Kings New Years' Honours list of 2024 for Services to Gymnasts and to the Sport of Gymnastics, plus recovery from two Achilles' injuries – one on each leg.
The sudden loss of brother Josh, in May 2021, due to an undiagnosed heart condition was, and remains, crushing.
"No words can describe the pain we as a family are all feeling right now," Becky posted two days after PE teacher Josh, became ill while at cricket practice. "The world is so cruel sometimes and no one is ever ready for anything like this to happen."
Not only did the family have to absorb the devastating news, but also had to be checked for the defective gene themselves.
"We all had to undergo testing and, if we had the gene... then, yeah, pretty much our careers were game over," Downie told us.
"So, it was definitely a really difficult thing to process on top of an already horrific circumstance with the family.
"It's a condition that could potentially develop later in life, so we've got to be tested forever now. But at the minute, everyone is healthy, which is really positive."
Becky Downie's early success
Downie's opening gymnastics' chapter came with an international medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, when she was just 14.
"The Commonwealths was amazing, and I think it did really kind of set me up," said Downie of claiming team silver and individual bronze on beam. "Just put me on a big stage with the seniors getting on podium at a very young age. I think that that helped."
Two years later and it was a first Olympic Games appearance.
"I remember that the big push for that competition was... trying to make our first ever team final because we made it the World's the year before... But we came ninth, and just missed out.... And for us that was really disappointing because as a team, that was something that we worked really hard to strive towards."
Downie, however, did qualify for the all-around competition, which meant she would get to compete again on all four pieces of apparatus.
"I had no expectations at all, still a pretty new senior and new to kind of everything on the scene. And I think just why we were as a, as a nation in gymnastics as well, like, we were not in a position for them best to be expected to challenge for finals and medals. It was just, you know, keep striving to take those next step forwards, I guess."
A long-time part of the increasing success on the world stage of British gymnasts, another history-making moment that Downie was a part of was a first women's European team medal, a silver (behind Russia and ahead of Romania) in 2010.
Thirteen years later, a 31-year-old Downie was also part of the side, comprising Ondine Achampong, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Jessica Gadirova and Alice Kinsella, that claimed a first ever European women's title.
Fourteeen-year-old Becky Downie (far left) at 2006 Commonwealth Games after winning bronze on beam
Experience pays off
Downie had to wait an extra-long time to start her bar routine which would decide the team's fate. "'I was like are we waiting for telly, are we waiting for a score, am I going to go, but you just try to stay calm and stay focused."
The years and years of practice – both physical repetitions of routines and mentality management – had come to fruition when it mattered most: last up to go in the team competition for Great Britain with a history-making medal on the line.
“It’s hard to put this into words. It’s more than a medal, it’s everything it means on my journey," said Downie of the won seven years after her last continental gong. "The feeling of being back and part of the team back in the environment and knowing and proving I can do it again is incredibly hard to describe. The biggest thing is relief - I really enjoyed it and I know I have even more to give.”
Downie also claimed silver on uneven bars, to add to the two titles she'd won on her specialist apparatus in 2014 and 2016, with silver the filling in the sandwiched in 2015. The last medal she'd won at a European Championships prior to 2023 was 2016.
"I think for me, as I've got older and my experience, I try not to panic too much. I think the biggest thing I've learned is if I feel prepared in the gym, then I'll go and do the work."
So honed is Downie's bars routine – one of the most difficult in the world and one that she hopes will emulate the 7.0 difficulty of the current world silver medallist Kaylia Nemour by the European Championships – that she "can be asleep napping in the gym and up and doing a bar routine within 30 minutes".
"That's something I've practised and learned over time, to be doing nothing, then just getting up and being ready to go."
That focus and determination is what Downie hopes will get her to one final Games – she says she's 99.9% certain she will retire after Paris and eyeing commentating as a potential post-gymnastics career – and a chance of the Olympic gold she craves.
Paris 2024 looming large
So, the next few months will prove crucial for all gymnasts hoping to make their nation's squad for Paris 2024.
With five spots available on the women's team for the Games in France's capital – courtesy of GB securing a history-making silver at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool – Downie is eyeing a place, especially as she's aiming to compete on all four apparatus this time out, rather than just specialising on bars.
Citing her operation and recovery last year from her second Achilles' injury as a big part of the reason she feels able to return to other apparatus, particularly vault, Downie nevertheless recognises it's still early in the season so just plans to compete on bars, beam and potentially floor at the season-opening World Cup in Egypt.
"It's been exciting to see what I can still do on those pieces," says Downie. "There's definitely no guarantees (but) it's exciting to be coming towards competition with some other routines other than just bars."
The 2024 European Championships taking place in Rimini, Italy from 2-5 May for the women's competition, which follows the men's event from 24-28 April, will prove a key decider.
Downie, however, is just focusing on the now, knowing all too well anything can happen, but she has a wealth of experience on which to draw and Josh remains the backbone of his siblings' Paris dream.
"Being alive is a gift and time feels more precious than ever now," posted Becky, who has a star tattooed on her finger for her four siblings and mum, Helen, who call themselves, 'Forever the Downie five'.
"That time should be spent doing whatever makes you happy, you always have the choice to change things up. There is no limit to the chapters left to write."