Catherine Lyons (born 30 August 2000) is a former British artistic gymnast. She has represented Great Britain numerous times in a prodigious junior career, most notably at the 2014 European Championships where she was crowned Junior European Floor Champion as well as taking home a silver with the team. Lyons retired from the sport in 2018, aged 17. In 2020 Lyons, with fellow gymnast Lisa Mason went public with allegations of serious physical and mental abuse within the

British Gymnastics British Gymnastics, also known as the British Amateur Gymnastics Association (BAGA), is the sports governing body for gymnastics and Trampolining in the UK. History It was founded in 1888 as the Amateur Gymnastics and Fencing Association. Gy ...

system In response several elite and former elite gymnasts came forward, corroborating Lyons and Mason's allegations in their own careers, including European champions Becky Downie and

Ellie Downie Elissa Rebecca "Ellie" Downie (born 20 July 1999) is a retired artistic gymnast who has represented Great Britain. She is the all-around 2017 European gymnastics champion, the first gymnast to win a major all-around title for Great Britain. T ...

and Olympic medallist

Amy Tinkler Amy Tinkler (born 27 October 1999) is a retired British Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's floor, 2016 Olympic floor exercise bronze medallist and the 2015 British all-around cha ...

. Later that year, British Gymnastics CEO

Jane Allen Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * Jane (1915 film), ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * Jane (2016 film), ''Jane'' (20 ...

resigned from her role, although denied her resignation was linked to the Lyons and Mason interviews and their fallout.

Junior career

2014

At the 2014 British Championships, Lyons took home all-around bronze as well as Floor gold and Beam silver. In May, Lyons competed at the 2014 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria winning a silver with the team and a gold on the Floor.

2015

In March, Lyons competed at the English Championships in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

. In the all-around competition she scored 14.450 on the vault, 12.200 on the uneven bars, 14.550 on the balance beam and 13.500 on the floor exercise finishing with a score of 54.700. Lyons' balance beam was over half a point higher than any senior gymnast in the English gymnast, the highest senior balance beam score was 13.900 posted by Olympic medallist

, Lyons' all-around total would have been enough for the bronze medal if she were a senior. Later in March, Lyons competed at the British Championships in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Lyons had a solid performance in the all-around competition scoring 14.100 on the vault, 13.200 on the uneven bars, 14.100 on the balance beam and 14.200 on the floor exercise for a total score of 55.600 winning gold and 2.800 points better than the second place gymnast. Lyons medalled in every event final, winning gold in the vault final with an average score of 13.675, a silver in the uneven bars final with 13.600, another gold in the balance beam final after a positive routine and a solid score of 14.700 and another final gold medal in the floor exercise with 14.350http://www.british-gymnastics.org/results/7898/Womens_Junior_Apparatus_Finals_-_Floor.pdf to finish off a positive meet at the championships.

2018

After struggles with injury during transition to the senior ranks, Lyons confirmed her retirement from the sport.

Personal life

Lyons was born on 30 August 2000; making the age requirement for her school year by just two days. She attende
St.Anthony's RC Primary School
She attended

Kingsdale Foundation School Kingsdale Foundation School (KFS) is a British mixed secondary school with academy status in West Dulwich, London, with an age range of 11–19 (Year 7 to sixth form). Admissions to the school are coordinated by the Southwark London Borough Cou ...

, taking her

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

exams in 2016.

Competitive Highlights

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Catherine 2000 births Living people British female artistic gymnasts Junior artistic gymnasts People from Dulwich