The balance beam is the destroyer of dreams. It exposes tension and nerves like no other apparatus, provoking falls from its knife‑edge surface. For many years it betrayed British gymnasts in high pressure moments but now they are increasingly at ease on it.
They are also, at times, even spectacular. Few routines in GB’s programme are as satisfying as the daring combination executed by Alice Kinsella on the beam. Early in her display Kinsella launches herself into a no-hands cartwheel, which she follows immediately with two consecutive back somersaults with her body in a straight position.
