As a gymnast I was a hard worker, stubborn and fearless but now I am just a hard worker and stubborn. I no longer have the firey fearless persona that the other gymnasts admired in me and that my coaches loved about me. I can confidently coach others to perform upside down moves on the beam or giants on bars and tell them to just “go for it” but when it comes to it now,  I can’t just “go for it”, I am terrified to perform a back flip on the beam or a twisting fly away dismount on bars, not only in gymnastics but also in life.

As a young girl, I would do anything, never embarrassed. I would do a full routine with my bum hanging out of my leotard – I once insisted on finishing my bar routine in training even though my leggings had split right down the middle from jumping into a straddle upstart, leaving the older girls in tears laughing at me! I wanted to try my hardest to get the technique of a move right as quickly as I could so that I could perform it without support from my coach, to feel that I had really achieved something. I was cheeky, a show off and some might say over confident.

I have been trying to discover when things changed. I was forced to retire at 17 and began to train casually as an adult from 19. The devastation of having to retire made it difficult to begin training again casually, mainly because of the physical pain but also the emotional pain. Eventually things got better as I understood technique and biomechanics more and I was able to achieve moves easily, even if it was on a casual basis, I knew ways to avoid hurting myself or putting too much stress on my recovering injury. Throughout these years, I went through the emotions and situations that any normal person does, heartache, depression, defeat and loss of a family member. I think each of these experiences maybe took a little part of me with them, they took my fire.

Apparently as a baby, I was firey and active, my parents have recalled many a time that I would crawl out of my cot as a baby whereas my brother acted like the normal baby and just slept! I think that gymnastics kept my fire burning and developed it into something special. I will always believe that gymnastics contributed largely to the person I am today.   When I go out and will be around people I want to look immaculate, I want to appear confident, a similar feeling that I would get when stepping out into the middle of the floor to perform a routine, maybe I see people as an audience. When I am going somewhere special or to something important, I like to take my time and get my head in focus. In an argument with someone close to me I am stubborn, I know what feels right and want to do it my way.  When I feel I have done something right or made the correct decision and someone tells me I have not or that I have failed at the task, I am gutted, I don’t take corrections too well. When I work, I have to have things organised, clear in front of me and tend to do things exactly to the book, I want it perfect and will try hard until I get the perfect result for a deadline.

I remember being 16 and on holidays. A facility on the island was offering bungee jumps, I was convinced that I was going to do it, in the end we didn’t have time (although maybe my parents told me that so that I wouldn’t give grey hairs early!). Now, I will not even go on the same rollercoaster that I would have gone on several times in a day every year! Ask me to get up on the beam to do a flip or to do a flyaway on bars and I’ll have to think it over several times.

The knock backs in life have certainly extinguished some of that fire that gymnastics nurtured, developed and matured in me. I miss that confident “get up and go” attitude about myself – since retiring it has slowly but steadily begun to diminish.  As a gymnast I would never question myself, consider what others would think of me or think the consequences and “what ifs”  through thoroughly. Maybe it’s my age, I’m getting older,  I’ve seen the world and read the news. I’m getting to the harder part of life and maybe it is that I don’t want to take risks as much, if any. I am still me but I would very much like this part of me to return, I’m not sure if I feel complete without it.

My parents recorded the gymnastics from Atlanta on VCR for me to watch, over the months and years after the games, I watched the routines time and time again, hoping that some day I could be like those gymnasts.  These three floor routines I have chosen by Lilia Podkopaeyva , Simona Amanar and Dominique Moceanu (placed on floor 1st, 2nd and 4th consecutively) are performances I thoroughly enjoyed watching, not only for their spectacular floor work but because the music really added something and made them much more exciting and entertaining. Feel free to share your favourite routines in the comments below.

Lilia Podkopaeyva (Ukraine)

Simona Amanar (Romania)

Dominique Moceanu (USA)

I’m looking forward to hearing what your favourite floor routines are!