British gymnast Becky Downie has not ruled out a return to competitive gymnastics after surpassing her expectations at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
The 32-year-old narrowly missed out on a team medal and qualified for a fiercely competitive uneven bars individual final, although her chances of a podium place were ended after a fall from the bar.
“I’m still really good at what I do, and I really enjoy what I do,” Downie told BBC East Midlands Today when asked about her future in the sport.
“I went to Paris really believing it would be my last and kind of knowing it would be my last, and tried to take in every experience as if that was it.”
Her appearance at the Paris Games came 16 years after Downie first competed in the Olympics.
And despite featuring in three Olympics in that time and collecting medals on the world, European and Commonwealth Games stages, she admits she left France feeling as if “I didn’t achieve quite what I wanted”.
She added: “I’m still good at it and needed Paris for me to believe that, so I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“I’m definitely taking a break and that’s what it is right now.”
Downie said she had not been back in the gymnastics gym since her time in the French capital.
“It was so much more for me than what happened in Paris, it was everything that happened from the Tokyo time to that point,” she said.
“I was just go, go, go for so long throughout that cycle, I didn’t have the time to process it.”
The Nottingham-born gymnast made her Olympic debut for Team GB in Beijing in 2008, also competing at London 2012 and Rio 2016, but missed out on Tokyo in 2021 after failing to qualify.
It was a turbulent time for Downie, who was mourning the death of her 24-year-old brother the week prior to trials.
She also garnered increased public attention having, alongside her sister Ellie, spoken out about abuse within British gymnastics.
They helped to trigger the Whyte Review, which resulted in reforms within the sport and led to both women earning MBEs for their services to gymnastics.
While Ellie retired at 23, her older sister continued her training to make another Olympic Games – but the tiring work is not something she is ready to dive back into just yet.
“To be able to make it to Paris was a huge achievement regardless of the results,” she said.
An advocate for change
Downie is continuing her work towards creating positive change for women in sport, having recently joined a campaign to promote healthy body image alongside Team GB weightlifter Emily Campbell.
“Growing up in the sport of gymnastics, it’s a sport where you are really scrutinised on your body,” Downie said.
“One of the big stats that I’ve learnt coming out of this campaign is that over a third of women are dropping out of sports because of skin consciousness – it’s crazy to me that it’s still a thing.”
It is not surprising Downie still possesses so much passion for using her platform to advocate for change, given that she feels the work she has done off the mat is more valuable than any of the 12 medals she won in her senior career.
“I never imagined that what both me and Ellie managed to do in our sport would then carry into other sports,” she said.
“It’s just an honour, being able to turn our struggles into a strength and an asset is something to be really proud of.
“It’s been a journey for sure, one that I can keep continuing, whatever that looks like.”
