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.
The series of skills is dynamic and fast, sending Kinsella from one end of the beam right to the edge of the other in a flash. It never fails to elicit cheers from the crowd. When all goes well, she loves it.
“It just feels like I’m flying,” says Kinsella, smiling, in an interview at Great Britain’s gymnastics training hall in Lilleshall, Shropshire. “I don’t put my hands down at all.”
Over the years, though, Kinsella has fallen many times. It has happened on this particular routine, where if you are off-line on the cartwheel you are finished. It has taken time for Kinsella – a key part of the British team at the European championships in Antalya, Turkey, which begin on Tuesday – to become one of the most important British gymnasts of her generation.
Gradually, Kinsella has become the nucleus of the GB women’s team as they have repeatedly made history. When the team won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, GB’s first women’s team medal since 1928, she was captain. She also led the group to a historic silver medal at the world championships in Liverpool last year. Kinsella is the only gymnast who performed in all four events in each of those finals and is the first female gymnast to win a team medal at Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth games.
While longevity is increasingly common, gymnastics is still seen to favour the youngest athletes. At 22, Kinsella defies those tropes in her own way. In her seven seasons as a senior she steadily improved with each year instead of rushing and burning out. Seeking out a sports psychologist for her crippling nerves has been transformative.
“When it came to competitions when I was younger, I would feel really sick. I would shake because I was just so nervous. I didn’t want to fall, I didn’t want to look bad. With the psych, I worked on my breathing and telling myself that ‘whatever happens, happens’.”
Kinsella’s breakout performance came at the 2019 European championships with gold on the balance beam. After making it to the Olympics, disaster struck in her first practice in Tokyo as she rolled her ankle during her floor routine. She insisted on pushing through but she was not the same as she fell multiple times in qualifying and finished 48th. Still, she refused to end her Olympics on a sour note. In the team final, Kinsella was rock solid as Great Britain won bronze. She later found out she had torn ligaments in her ankle.
The team success set Kinsella up well for individual competitions and in Liverpool last year she finished as the fourth best all‑around gymnast in the world. She left with mixed emotions, overjoyed at breaking new ground but gutted by finishing so close to bronze, only 134 points behind her teammate Jessica Gadirova. The result forced her to reconsider her own potential and she resolved to trust her abilities.
“In [the world championships] 2019, I came 12th and I thought, then, that is where I would place for pretty much my whole career: 12th to 14th. I never thought I’d be there but I guess I am capable of that and I just need to tell myself that more often and trust my body.”
Some of Kinsella’s self-doubt stemmed from the negative comments she read online and would internalise. The most frustrating period came just before the Olympics when British Gymnastics received significant a backlash for both its questionable Olympic selection process and its heavily criticised handling of the situation involving Becky and Ellie Downie, whose brother, Josh, unexpectedly died on the eve of the Olympic Trials. One of Kinsella’s coaches, Christine Still, is married to Colin Still, the former national coach who was then under investigation. Some fans speculated that Kinsella was the beneficiary of favouritism, which both Kinsella and her gym publicly addressed. Her subsequent performances have proven her abilities beyond doubt.
“Going into my Olympic trial, it gave me no hope at all,” she says. “You try not to read it but, as an athlete, you’re gonna read it. You’re gonna keep reading it. The more you read, the more [messages] show up. It’s hard to ignore but, I guess, it motivates you even more. It motivates you to prove them wrong and I guess I’ve done that.”
There is no end point in sight. Kinsella wants to soldier on after bidding to make the Paris 2024 team and she has not ruled out LA 2028, but it remains to be seen how long her body and motivation will hold up. For now, she will be attempting to complete the notorious Amanar vault before Paris, which would push her performance to another level.
Surrounding Kinsella on her journey is a family of some sporting pedigree. Her father, Mark Kinsella, is the former Colchester and Charlton footballer who was capped 48 times for the Republic of Ireland, and her brother, Liam, plays for Walsall. Asked whether she is now the best athlete in the family, Kinsella pauses for a second. Then she shrugs and laughs: “Yeah.”
