Ellie Downie

Elissa Rebecca "Ellie" Downie (born 20 July 1999 in Nottingham)[1] is an artistic gymnast who represents Great Britain. She is the All-around 2017 European gymnastics champion, the first gymnast to win a major all-around title for Great Britain[2].

Ellie Downie
Downie at the 2015 European Championships in Montpellier, France.
Personal information
Full name	Elissa Rebecca Downie
Country represented	Great Britain  England
Born	(1999-07-20) 20 July 1999 Nottingham, United Kingdom
Hometown	Nottingham, United Kingdom
Height	157 cm (5 ft 2 in)
Weight	53 kg (117 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior international elite
Years on national team	2012–Present (GB)
Club	Notts Gymnastics Club
Head coach(es)	Jo Miller
Music	2014: "Señorita" by Bond 2015: "Why Don't You" by Gramophonedzie 2016: "Skeletons" by Drehz 2017: "Boneless" by Steve Aoki
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd World Championships 0 0 2 European Championships 1 6 3 Total 1 6 5 Representing  Great Britain World Championships 2015 Glasgow Team 2019 Stuttgart Vault European Championships 2017 Cluj-Napoca All-Around 2016 Bern Team 2016 Bern Vault 2016 Bern Floor Exercise 2017 Cluj-Napoca Vault 2017 Cluj-Napoca Floor Exercise 2019 Szczecin All-Around 2015 Montpellier All-Around 2017 Cluj-Napoca Uneven Bars 2019 Szczecin Vault Youth Olympic Games 2014 Nanjing Vault 2014 Nanjing All-Around 2014 Nanjing Balance Beam 2014 Nanjing Floor Exercise

The younger sister of double European champion Beckie Downie, Downie first came to prominence as an outstanding junior gymnast at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics[3], winning four medals. At the age of 15, she became the first British woman to win an individual all-around medal at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, with a bronze in 2015.[4] Later that year, she was part of the team that won Britain's first global team medal, a bronze, at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. At the 2017 European Championships, she made history again by becoming the first British gymnast to win the all-around at a major international competition.[5]

Junior career

Downie competed at the 2014 European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, and won a gold medal on vault, a silver medal with the British team and a bronze medal in the all-around. Based on this performance, she was selected to compete at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. There, she earned four medals: a silver on vault behind Wang Yan and bronzes in the all-around, balance beam and floor exercise.

Senior career

2015

Downie made her senior debut at the 2015 British Championships. She won silver on vault and uneven bars and bronze in the all-around competition, and was named to the British team for the 2015 European Championships along with her sister, Becky Downie.

She performed well in qualifications at the European Championships, qualifying for the individual all-around, vault and uneven bars finals.[6] On 17 April, she competed in the all-around final and placed third, behind Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland and Maria Kharenkova of Russia, with a score of 56.623, winning the first ever individual all-around medal for a British female gymnast at the European Championships.[4]

Downie was the Sky Sports Sportswoman of the Month for April 2015.[7] On 20 December, she was named the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.[8][9]

2016

In May 2016, Downie won all four individual event titles at the FIG World Cup event in Osijek, Croatia,[10] becoming the first gymnast to accomplish this feat at a World Cup competition since Ludmilla Tourischeva in 1975.[11] The following month, at the 2016 European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, she won silver medals with the team and on vault and floor exercise.[12][13]

In July, she was named to the British team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, along with Becky Downie, Claudia Fragapane, Ruby Harrold and Amy Tinkler.[14]

Olympic Games

In qualifications at the Olympics, Downie landed on her head during a tumbling pass on floor and was unable to finish her routine.[15][16] However, she returned in the next rotation, performing two vaults, and qualified to the all-around final in 20th place.[17] She improved on that performance in the final, finishing 13th,[18] and the British women finished fifth in the team competition.[19]

2017

In April 2017, Downie represented Great Britain at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where she made history by qualifying for all five individual finals.[20] The next day, she became the first British gymnast to win the all-around title at a major international competition, beating Hungary's Zsófia Kovács and France's Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos.[5] She also won silver medals on vault and floor, and a bronze medal on the uneven bars.[21] At the beginning of August she underwent an ankle surgery due to an injury she had dealt with at both the British Championships and European Championships that year. The surgery means that she will not be able to attend the 2017 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, stating on her instagram account that she plans on her next major international competition to be the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

2018

On 27 September Downie was named to the team to compete at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar alongside Becky Downie, Alice Kinsella, Georgia-Mae Fenton, and Kelly Simm.[22]

2019

Downie was selected to compete at the 2019 European Championships alongside Amelie Morgan, Alice Kinsella, and Kelly Simm.[23] She competed at the British Championships where she placed first in the all-around, on vault, and on floor exercise.[24] She later competed at the Birmingham World Cup where she placed seventh after falling off the balance beam and uneven bars.[25] At the European Championships Downie qualified to the all-around final in fourth place and to the vault final in first.[26] In the all-around final Downie finished second behind Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos of France.[27] She won bronze in the vault final behind 2015 vault champion Maria Paseka and 2017 vault champion Coline Devillard.[28]

In September Downie was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart alongside Alice Kinsella, Becky Downie, Taeja James, and Georgia-Mae Fenton.[29] During qualifications Downie helped Great Britain place seventh, earning a spot in the team final and qualifying a team for Great Britain to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Individually Downie qualified for the vault final.[30] During the team final she contributed scores on vault and uneven bars towards Great Britain's sixth place finish.[31] In the vault final Downie performed a Double-Twisting Yurchenko and a Cheng, earning an average score of 14.816 and winning the bronze medal behind Americans Simone Biles and Jade Carey. This was Downie's first individual World Championships medal. Later that day Downie's sister Becky won her first individual World Championships medal, a silver medal on the uneven bars.[32]

2020

In early February it was announced that Downie was selected to represent Great Britain at the Birmingham World Cup taking place in late March.[33] However the Birmingham World Cup was later canceled due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak in the United Kingdom.[34]

Personal life

Ellie is the sister of 2008 and 2016 Olympian Becky Downie.[35] She attended the Rushcliffe School in Nottingham until the summer of 2015.[36]

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2012	British Team Championships		4	6	4	15	5
	British Espoir Championships					18
	UK School Games
2013	WOGA Classic
	Junior British Championships
	British Team Championships	4
	European Youth Olympic Festival		4		7
	Élite Gym Massilia		12		4
	Gymnasiade		6	4			6
2014	English Championships		4			7
	Munich Friendly		4
	European Junior Championships				5
	Youth Olympic Games
2015	English Championships				9		6
	British Championships					6
	European Championships			5	4
	GBR-NED International Friendly
	World Championships			4			6
2016	British Championships					4	4
	Osijek World Challenge Cup
	European Championships
	Olympic Games	5	13
2017	British Championships					WD	WD
	European Championships					4
2018
	World Championships	R1	11
2019	British Championships					7
	Birmingham World Cup		7
	European Championships
	World Championships	6

References

1. "Ellie Downie". teamgb.com.
2. Claudia Fragapane won the All-around competition in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, but representing England.
3. Amanda Turner. "Roster Released For Youth Olympic Games". International Gymnast. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
4. "Ellie Downie takes historic bronze". British Gymnastics. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
5. McDaid, David (21 April 2017). "European Championships: Ellie Downie is first Briton to win all-round gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
6. McDaid, David (15 April 2015). "European Gymnastics: Fragapane and Downie both make finals". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
7. "Gymnast Ellie Downie named April's Sportswoman of the Month". Sky Sports. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
8. "Young Sports Personality 2016: Ellie Downie Q&A". BBC News. 29 November 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
9. "Ellie Downie wins BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award". British Gymnastics. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
10. Turner, Amanda (1 May 2016). "Downie Dominates Osijek with Full Sweep". International Gymnast. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
11. "Ellie Downie completes rare golden sweep at Osijek World Cup". Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
12. McDaid, David (5 June 2016). "European Championships: Becky & Ellie Downie win gold & silver". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
13. Corkery, Claire (5 June 2016). "Downie sisters win gold and silver at European Championships in Switzerland". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
14. "Team GB's 2016 Olympic gymnasts announced". British Gymnastics. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
15. Ingle, Sean (7 August 2016). "Ellie Downie gets back off the mat to help GB into all-round gymnastics final". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
16. "Rio 2016 Olympics: Ellie Downie's recovery from injury". BBC Sport. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
17. Howard, Tori (8 August 2016). "Women's Finalists at the 2016 Rio Olympics". FloGymnastics. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
18. "13th place for Ellie Downie in women's Olympic all-around final". British Gymnastics. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
19. "Fifth place finish for GB women's gymnastics team in Rio". British Gymnastics. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
20. "Britain's Ellie Downie qualifies for all-around and all apparatus finals in Cluj". Halesowen News. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
21. McDaid, David (23 April 2017). "European Championships: Ellie Downie wins silver on the floor". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
22. "GBR women's team confirmed for World Championship action". British Gymnastics. 27 September 2018.
23. "British team for 2019 European Championships announced". British Gymnastics. 11 March 2019.
24. "Gymnastics British Championships 2019". British Gymnastics.
25. "2019 Birmingham World Cup Live Blog". The Gymternet. 23 March 2019.
26. "British women shine in European Championship qualifying". British Gymnastics. 11 April 2019.
27. "Ellie Downie wins superb European silver". British Gymnastics. 12 April 2019.
28. "Max wins pommel gold and Ellie adds to European medal haul". British Gymnastics. 13 April 2019.
29. "Meet the women's 2019 Artistic World Championships team". British Gymnastics. 19 September 2019.
30. "Women's team make world finals and qualify place for 2020 Olympic Games". British Gymnastics. 5 October 2019.
31. "British women's team 6th in world final". British Gymnastics. 8 October 2019.
32. "World gold, silver and bronze for GB on super Saturday in Stuttgart". British Gymnastics. 12 October 2019.
33. "Birmingham World Cup roster bursts with World stars". FIG. 7 February 2020.
34. "British Gymnastics national events announcement, including FIG World Cup". British Gymnastics. 16 March 2020.
35. "Family joy as Becky and Ellie Downie savour European Championships gold". Nottingham Post. 18 May 2014. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
36. "Gymnastic Stars, Ellie and Becky Downie". www.rushcliffe.notts.sch.uk. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.