Bryony Page’s dream of joining the circus is on hold at the moment. First, the two-time Olympic trampoline medallist has some other heights to scale at Paris 2024.
Named in Great Britain’s Olympic team on Thursday, the 33-year-old heads to this summer’s Games as one of their biggest gold-medal hopes.
Her silver at Rio 2016 was a British first in her discipline and she followed it up with bronze at Tokyo 2020, plus two individual world titles.
“Every time I achieve something, I’m like ‘what’s next?'” Page told BBC Sport.
“There’s a ceiling but you want to break it each time.”
That was quite literally the case when she was a youngster – her coaches had to move the trampoline to make sure she did not hit the ceiling when she bounced.
Page, who started out on a garden trampoline as child before taking up gymnastics then trampolining, has set many records in her career, including becoming the first British female gymnast to win medals across two Olympics.
But it has not been straightforward, with Page having to re-learn every basic trampoline skill after a severe mental block early in her career and also deal with the disappointment of missing her home Olympics at London 2012 through injury.
But now, with one of the highest-difficulty routines ever performed, she is at the top of her sport heading to its most prestigious event.
She will be joined in Paris by Games debutants Izzy Songhurst and Zak Perzamanos.
‘For most people, it’s the end of their career’
Watching American gymnast Simone Biles struggling with the ‘twisties’ (loss of spatial awareness) at the Toyko Games in 2021 resonated more with Page than most.
Back in 2008, she experienced a similar mental block, triggered by what she said was a lack of confidence in her ability.
“I kind of got lost in a skill, which is sort of what was happening to Simone Biles when she was getting lost in the air and her body was doing something different to what she’s trying to do,” she explained.
“It’s this whole idea of your body doing something that you didn’t tell it to do.
“When I was first going through that I didn’t really know what was going on, but what I did know is that for most people who had this it’s the end of their career.”
But Page was “a bit stubborn” and would not give up, working with a psychologist and re-learning all her skills. The experience, she says, made her a stronger athlete.
Speaking to Page, that sense of determination shines through and you also get a sense she is good at everything she turns her hand to.
The houseplants filling the shelves behind her are all thriving – no wilting leaves in sight from a hobby she took up in lockdown – and one of the early projects in her new crochet pastime is to make a complicated-sounding dinosaur.
She also has a first-class degree in biology.
But she is not planning on using that any time soon because when she eventually retires, she knows exactly what she wants to do next.
“I would like to join the circus,” she said.
Cirque du Soleil is her dream and she has been speaking to talent scouts for the past 10 years, adding she might even manage to do a stint before the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 if she can get a short-term contract.
“I guess trampolining in general is very much a performance sport, so I just love that element of performing in front of a crowd.”
An Olympic crowd for now, though.
