Ellie Downie retires from gymnastics ‘to prioritise mental health’

British Olympian Ellie Downie announced her retirement from

gymnastics on Monday (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Archive)

Due to “mind games” played by British Gymnastics officials, Downie announced

on Monday that she was quitting the sport that had taken up her life since

she was three years old “to prioritise (her) mental health and happiness.”

In July 2020, Downie and her 30-year-old sister Becky went public with claims

of a “culture of fear and mental abuse” at the highest levels of their sport. Since

then, she has conjectured that this may

have been the reason behind her exclusion from later squads.

Speaking on Dr. Alex George’s Stompcast, the Rio 2016 Olympian

claimed that being nominated as a reserve for the women’s team at the

2022 World Championships was the last

straw, even though she felt she had met the selection criteria.

“I simply wondered, will I ever be able to join a team again? I don’t think I am,”

she said to George. “I continue to feel as though I’m being punished for the

events that occurred two years ago. I

felt really low after that. I felt really insignificant.

It just seemed like endless mental games to me. They seemed to be attempting to

tire me out, and in the end, they succeeded.

It felt like I was in bed for three days straight. I didn’t work out. I simply felt

bruised mentally. Simply put, I had no idea where I was going to go. My life

seemed completely uncontrollable. After all, they were in charge of my life,

so what good was it, in their opinion, if

they were never going to pick me for teams again?

“I simply felt like total garbage, so I stopped training for a bit. I was lacking

motivation. I made a few attempts to visit the gym, but every time I went, my

head would be so disorganized that I

would scream, be so angry, and fall on everything.

Among Downie’s other allegations is that a physiotherapist was advised to

“be careful working so closely with (the Downies), they tried to take the

organization down so they might try to take you down” by David Kenwright, the

national head coach for women’s artistic gymnastics at British Gymnastics.

She further claims that following the World Championships, Kenwright

emailed the squad, which did not include Downie, saying, “We kind of put

the critics to rest… … we’ve exacted

revenge for all that has been said about gymnastics.

The PA news agency has contacted British Gymnastics for comment.

“(Ellie has) raised issues in her retirement podcast that we are already

aware of and are being addressed, particularly around the conduct and

communication of a member of our coaching team,” the company stated in a

statement that was posted on its website. As part of the extensive

gymnastics reform being implemented, we need to make sure that proper

attitudes and behaviors are upheld and consistently reinforced.

Ellie makes reference to an email that was issued after the World

Championships but did not adhere to our organization’s standards or ideals.

Our performance director promptly replied to the receivers, pointing out

that certain words and tone were inappropriate and inconsistent with our

values and reform-oriented approach. After then, there was a process of

education and discipline, which is still being watched over.

With twelve senior medals, including Great Britain’s first major all-around

gold at the 2017 European Championships, Downie departs as one

of the most decorated gymnasts in British history.

It really made me flip a switch in my head after my brother passed away

because you just can’t keep going if you’re unhappy,” the woman continued.

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