British gymnast Becky Downie has not dominated out a return to aggressive gymnastics after surpassing her expectations at this 12 months’s Olympic Video games in Paris.
The 32-year-old narrowly missed out on a staff medal and certified for a fiercely aggressive uneven bars particular person closing, though her chances of a podium place were ended after a fall from the bar.
“I am nonetheless actually good at what I do, and I actually take pleasure in what I do,” Downie advised BBC East Midlands As we speak when requested about her future within the sport.
“I went to Paris actually believing it might be my final and type of understanding it might be my final, and tried to absorb each expertise as if that was it.”
Her look on the Paris Video games got here 16 years after Downie first competed within the Olympics.
And regardless of that includes in three Olympics in that point and accumulating medals on the world, European and Commonwealth Video games phases, she admits she left France feeling as if “I did not obtain fairly what I wished”.
She added: “I am nonetheless good at it and wanted Paris for me to imagine that, so I do not know what is going on to occur.
“I am positively taking a break and that is what it’s proper now.”
Downie stated she had not been again within the gymnastics fitness center since her time within the French capital.
“It was a lot extra for me than what occurred in Paris, it was every part that occurred from the Tokyo time to that time,” she stated.
“I used to be simply go, go, go for thus lengthy all through that cycle, I did not have the time to course of it.”
The Nottingham-born gymnast made her Olympic debut for Crew GB in Beijing in 2008, additionally competing at London 2012 and Rio 2016, however missed out on Tokyo in 2021 after failing to qualify.
It was a turbulent time for Downie, who was mourning the demise of her 24-year-old brother the week previous to trials.
She additionally garnered elevated public consideration having, alongside her sister Ellie, spoken out about abuse inside British gymnastics.
They helped to set off the Whyte Review, which resulted in reforms inside the sport and led to each ladies earning MBEs for his or her providers to gymnastics.
Whereas Ellie retired at 23, her older sister continued her coaching to make one other Olympic Video games – however the tiring work shouldn’t be one thing she is able to dive again into simply but.
“To have the ability to make it to Paris was an enormous achievement whatever the outcomes,” she stated.
