Becky Downie

Rebecca "Becky" Downie (born 24 January 1992 in Nottingham) is a British artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics.[1] She is a double European champion (2014 and 2016) and 2014 Commonwealth Games champion on the uneven bars as well as the 2019 World silver medallist.

Becky Downie
Downie winning a silver medal at the 2015 European Championships in Montpellier, France.
Personal information
Full nameRebecca Downie
Nickname(s)Becky Downie
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Born (1992-01-24) 24 January 1992
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Height155 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Weight53 kg (117 lb)
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
Years on national team2006–Present (GB)
ClubNotts Gymnastics Club
Head coach(es)Jo Miller
Eponymous skillsstalder backwards on high bar with counter pike – reverse hecht over high bar to hang (uneven bars)
AwardsLongines Prize for Elegance (2016)

Her younger sister, Ellie Downie, is also an Olympic gymnast. [2]

Junior career

Representing England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Downie contributed an all-around score of 54.100 to the English team's second-place finish and placed eighth in the all-around final with a score of 53.700. In event finals, she placed fifth on uneven bars, scoring 14.000, and third on balance beam, scoring 14.075.[3]

Senior career

2008

At the 2008 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Clermont-Ferrand in early April, Downie contributed scores of 14.750 on vault, 15.375 on uneven bars, and 14.850 on balance beam to the British team's sixth-place finish.[4] In event finals, she placed eighth on vault (13.500) and uneven bars (14.700).[5] Later in April, she won a silver medal on bars at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Cottbus, with a score of 14.975.[6]

In June, Downie competed at the British Championships in Guildford, where she won the all-around competition (59.650)[7] and the uneven bars title (15.200) and placed fourth on balance beam (14.500).[8] Afterwards, she was named to the British team for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[9]

At the Olympics in August, Downie contributed an all-around score of 58.075 to the British team's ninth-place finish.[10] In the individual all-around final, she scored 59.450 to place twelfth.[11]

2009

In March, Downie placed fourth at the American Cup in Chicago with a score of 55.600.[12] The following month, she competed at the 2009 European Championships in Milan, where she placed eleventh in the all-around final (55.075) and sixth on vault (14.025) and uneven bars (14.525).[13]

At the World Cup event in Glasgow in May, she placed sixth on vault (12.925), second on uneven bars (14.600), and fifth on balance beam (13.300).[14]

In March, she won the all-around at the British Championships in Liverpool with a score of 56.100.[15] In event finals, she placed second on vault, scoring 13.250; first on uneven bars, scoring 13.850; first on balance beam, scoring 14.900; and first on floor, scoring 13.750.[16]

In October, Downie competed at the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London. She placed sixteenth in the all-around final with a score of 53.775.[17]

Downie during a routine on the uneven bars at the 17th Internationaux de France in 2010.

2010

In April, Downie placed tenth on uneven bars (13.300) and ninth on balance beam (13.875) at the World Cup event in Paris.[18] In May, at the 2010 European Championships in Birmingham, she contributed scores of 14.075 on vault, 14.350 on uneven bars, and 14.100 on balance beam to the British team's second-place finish,[19] and placed fifth in the bars final with a score of 14.625.[20]

At the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam in October, she contributed a vault score of 14.733 to the British team's seventh-place finish.[21]

2011

Downie injured her Achilles tendon in January 2011 and was expected to be out of competition for the rest of the year.[22] However, she was able to return in nine months. "I guess the key for my quick return was that I was backed 100 percent by a fantastic medical team, and rather than let myself get down about the injury, I just had to keep reminding myself of all the positives that could come from it," she said. "I took the opportunity to give my body a break which wouldn't have been possible without the injury, and then everything just moved so quickly."[23]

In October, she competed at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo and contributed an uneven bars score of 14.433 to the British team's fifth-place finish.[24]

2012

At the beginning of June, Downie competed at an international friendly in Ipswich with gymnasts from Finland and Spain, which also served as Britain's second Olympic trial. She placed fourth on vault with a score of 14.100[25] and fourth on balance beam with a score of 13.450.[26]

The British Championships in Liverpool at the end of June were the third and final trial to determine the British team for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Downie did not compete on floor but scored 14.550 on vault, 14.25 on uneven bars, and 13.100 on balance beam.[27] In event finals, she placed sixth on uneven bars with a score of 13.350[28] and second on balance beam with a score of 13.850.[29] She did not make the Olympic team, but was named as an alternate.[2]

2013

At the 2013 European Championships, Downie qualified second into the uneven bars final with a score of 14.733, behind only reigning Olympic uneven bars champion Aliya Mustafina.[30] However, a fall in the final left her in seventh place with a score of 13.000.[31]

2014

Downie was a member of the British team that won a silver medal at the 2014 European Championships, after qualifying to the team final in first place. Individually, she won the uneven bars title—the second British woman to do so after Beth Tweddle—and finished fourth in the balance beam final.

Downie at the European Championships in 2015, where she won two silver medals.

In July, she won gold with the English team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, alongside teammates Claudia Fragapane, Ruby Harrold, Kelly Simm, and Hannah Whelan. She also won the uneven bars final with a score of 14.666; Harrold placed third. However, she fell twice in the balance beam final and was unable to finish her routine, resulting in a score of 9.833.

At the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, Downie performed well on bars and beam to help Britain qualify to the team final in fourth place: the highest ever qualification placement for a British women's team at a World Championships. She also qualified to the bars final in sixth place with a score of 15.166, and finished fifth in the final with the same score.

2015

At the 2015 European Championships, Downie won silver medals on the uneven bars and balance beam.[32] Later in the year, she helped Britain win its first-ever team World Championship medal in women's gymnastics, a bronze at the 2015 Championships in Glasgow.[2][33]

2016

Downie was named to the British team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro—her second Olympics—alongside her younger sister Ellie Downie, Claudia Fragapane, Ruby Harrold, and Amy Tinkler.[34] She entered the competition as a contender on uneven bars, but placed 10th in a packed field in qualifications and did not qualify to the final.[35] However, the British team finished fifth, Britain's best Olympic result in women's gymnastics since 1928.[36]

2017

Downie competed on uneven bars and balance beam at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca. She qualified to the bars final in fourth place with a score of 14.433, but in the final, she placed seventh with a score of 13.000[37] after falling on a release move and injuring her elbow.[38] She withdrew from the beam final the next day because of the injury.[39]

2018

On 6 July Downie was named to the team to compete at the 2018 European Championships alongside Alice Kinsella, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Kelly Simm, and Lucy Stanhope.[40] On 7–8 July Downie returned to competition and competed at the Heerenveen Friendly where she tied for first on uneven bars and Great Britain placed third in the team final.[41] Downie withdrew from the European Championships after sustaining an ankle injury during podium training.[42]

On September 27, Downie was named to the team to compete at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar alongside Alice Kinsella, Ellie Downie, Georgia-Mae Fenton, and Kelly Simm.[43]

2019

In May Downie was named to the team to compete at the 2019 European Games alongside Georgia-Mae Fenton.[44] She won silver on uneven bars behind Angelina Melnikova of Russia.

In September Downie was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart alongside Alice Kinsella, Ellie Downie, Taeja James, and Georgia-Mae Fenton.[45] During qualifications Downie helped Great Britain place seventh, earning a spot in the team final and qualifying a team for Great Britain to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Individually Downie qualified for the uneven bars final.[46] During the team final she contributed scores on uneven bars and balance beam towards Great Britain's sixth place finish.[47] In the uneven bars final Downie performed a clean routine, earning a score of 15.000 and winning the silver medal behind reigning World uneven bars Champion Nina Derwael of Belgium. This was Downie's first individual World Championships medal. Earlier that day Downie's sister Ellie won her first individual World Championships medal, a bronze medal on vault.[48]

Eponymous skills

ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficultyWhen Added to Code of Points
Uneven BarsDownieStalder backward on high bar with counter-pike reverse hecht over bar to hangF2010 Rotterdam World Championships

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2006
Commonwealth Games85
2007
World Championships7
2008GBR-FRA International Friendly55
European Championships688
Cottbus World Cup
British Championships4
Olympic Games912
2009American Cup4
European Championships1166
Glasgow World Cup65
British Championships
British Team Championships
World Championships15
2010Paris World Cup109
British Team Championships
European Championships5
World Championships7
2011
World Championships5
2012GBR-FIN-ESP44
British Team Championships
British Championships6
2013British Championships
European Championships7
Turnen Dames Interland20
World Championships8
Élite Gym Massilia
2014English Championships
British Championships
Munich Friendly
European Championships4
Commonwealth Games8
World Championships65
2015English Championships4
European Championships
World Championships
2016English Championships4
British Championships
European Championships6
Olympic Games5
2017British Championships
English Championships
European Championships7WD
2018Heerenveen Friendly
World ChampionshipsR17
2019
European Games
World Championships6

References

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  2. Fincher, Julia (29 July 2016). "Prepare for Downie domination: The British sisters making gymnastics history". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. "The 18th Commonwealth Games 2006 Melbourne – Artistic Gymnastics". Gymnasticsresults.com. 24 January 2005. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  4. "27th European Championships women's artistic gymnastics". Gymnasticsresults.com. 5 April 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  5. "27th European Championships women's artistic gymnastics". Gymnasticsresults.com. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
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  11. http://www.figbeijing2008.sportcentric.com/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,5195-191441-208664-139590-0-file,00.pdf Archived 26 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
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  23. "International Gymnast Magazine Online – IG Online Interview: Becky Downie (GBR)". Intlgymnast.com. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
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