Paris 2024 Olympics: Becky Downie back on the Olympic stage for first time in eight years - "I'm super, super proud"
Eight years and a million ups and downs later, Team GB's Becky Downie is back on the Olympic stage.
"I'm super, super proud," Downie told Olympics.com on Sunday (28 July) after leading the British squad in the women's gymnastics qualifying day at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
"I was actually really emotional when I stepped in the arena," the 32-year-old continued. "It was a bit like, 'We've done it, and I'm back.' But then it was just guiding the team because we've got a big range of experience throughout the squad.
"[I was] trying to just stick to my guns and do my job. And I'm so proud of the performance today."
It was a shaky showing for Team GB, who struggled on their opening apparatus on vault before settling in on uneven bars. That's where the veteran Downie took charge, hitting a strong routine that saw her flying high through multiple release moves as she transitioned back and forth from one bar to the other. She nearly stuck her full-twisting double back dismount.
She let her emotions out thereafter.
"I was so nervous, I tried not to watch [my teammates] and just go in and hit it," she said of bars. "It was just [about] trusting in myself knowing that I've done that routine so many times. I've been working on it for over a year. I think with bars, as soon as you start off in a good rhythm, you can get into a flow. I couldn't be more proud."
Downie made her Olympic debut 16 years ago in Beijing 2008 at age 16, competing thereafter at London and Rio - the second of which she did so alongside her sister Ellie. She struggled through a collection of injuries, and, ahead of Tokyo 2020 in 2021, unexpectedly lost her brother before the BritishTrials, before ultimately failing to make the team.
But Sunday she was back, furthering a trend in modern women's gymnastics that age is nothing but a number.
"It's so, so different from what I remember," she said of her early days in the sport. "I think the [other team members] know that they can come to me for any type of experience or any questions that they have, but I think we just gel."
Becky Downie in fourth Olympics: "Trust yourself and just go"
The goal, Downie said, was for Team GB to make it into the women's team final. The team's shaky start on Sunday first made that look in doubt, but after her strong bars effort they settled in more, going to balance beam and then floor exercise.
"It was a bit hit and miss," she said, detailing a 4am wake-up call for their 9:30 start-time in rotation one. "For some of the [other women] this is their first Olympics; there's a lot of emotion in there. Overall, I think they did do a very good job. Hopefully - everything crossed - for a team final.
"I said to the girls, if we do get through, they have the advantage of now recovery from being in [rotation] one. So we take take the small wins. I'm super proud."
Downie herself could be in the hunt for an uneven bars medal, having won a silver medal on that apparatus at Worlds in 2019. She also helped Team GB to bronze at Worlds in 2015.
She would be the oldest woman to medal in an individual event at the Games since the eternal Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan won a silver on vault in Beijing in 2008 at age 33.
Regardless, it's been a long, winding road for Downie, but at 32 she's taking it all in - both as a gymnast and a leader for her team.
"I think the emotions the last few weeks have... been up and down, to be honest," she said. "I let the feelings come, let them go. And for me, it was like, as soon as I stepped up today, I said, 'I'm ready.' Whatever it's going to be, you've done all the work. Trust yourself and just go."