Becky Downie believes gymnastics is finally changing for the better. Sixteen years after her debut as a teenager at Beijing 2008 and four years since she blew the whistle on welfare issues in the sport, Downie has been selected for a third Olympic Games.
In 2020, Downie and younger sister Ellie spoke out about “cruel”, “ingrained” and “completely normalised” abusive issues in the sport. The Whyte Review, published in 2022, found systemic evidence of physical and emotional abuse within gymnastics in Britain.
