An emotional Becky Downie booked a place in the uneven bars final at the Olympics and helped a sometimes shaky Great Britain reach the women’s team final.
Downie, 32, is competing at her first Games since Rio 2016 after controversially missing out on selection for Tokyo 2020. She had thought she would have retired by now but has said a “belief deep down” that she could win an Olympic medal on bars is what has kept her in the sport.
The two-time European bars champion had an 11-hour wait to find out if the 14.666 she posted in the morning would put her in the eight-woman final. In the end, she qualified in sixth place.
She had tears in her eyes when she walked out at the Bercy Arena, just over three years after her 24-year-old brother died a week before the Tokyo Olympic trials – which she pulled out of.
She said that Tuesday’s team final would be especially emotional for her as it falls on her brother’s birthday.
Downie’s excellent bars routine came at just the right time for the Great Britain team, who had struggled on the apparatus – with falls for Ruby Evans and Alice Kinsella and an uncharacteristic mistake by Georgia-Mae Fenton. They went on to post a total of 160.830 to qualify seventh.
Great Britain, surprise bronze medallists in Tokyo three years ago, have been hit by injuries to some of their top gymnasts, including British all-around champion Ondine Achampong and twins Jessica and Jennifer Gadirova.
Kinsella is the only member of the team who was part of the 2021 success but had a below-par day, although she squeezed into the all-around final, along with Fenton.
“I’m super proud of them,” Downie said of a team that also featured 16-year-old Abigail Martin.
“I feel like we came in as the underdogs because we had a lot of injuries in our squad, and we’ve got a newer team. There’s a lot to improve on.”
The United States, led by a brilliant Simone Biles on her Olympic return, qualified top for the team final, followed by Italy and China.
On Monday, Britain’s men, who had a much smoother qualifying session on Saturday, have the chance to go for a medal in the men’s team final (16:30 BST).