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Elissa Rebecca "Ellie" Downie (born 20 July 1999) is a retired
artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...
who has represented
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. She is the all-around 2017 European gymnastics champion, the first gymnast to win a major all-around title for Great Britain. The younger sister of double European champion
Becky Downie Rebecca "Becky" Downie (born 24 January 1992 in Nottingham) is a British artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a double European champion (2014 and 2016) and 2014 C ...
, Downie first came to prominence as an outstanding junior gymnast at the
2014 Summer Youth Olympics The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...
, 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 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships part of European Gymnastics Championships may refer to: * European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships * European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships * European Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnasti ...
, with a bronze in 2015. 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 The 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was the forty-sixth edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from 23 October – 1 November 2015 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, United Kingdom, and is the fir ...
. 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. On 23 January 2023, Downie announced her retirement from the sport.


Junior career

Downie competed at the 2014 European Championships in
Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
, and won a gold medal on
vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...
, 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 The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games , and commonly known as Nanjing 2014 ( zh, c=南京2014, p=Nánjīng Èr Líng yī sì), were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports ...
in
Nanjing, China Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
. There, she earned four medals: a silver on vault behind Wang Yan and bronzes in the all-around,
balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...
and
floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...
.


Senior career


2015

Downie made her senior debut at the 2015 British Championships. She won silver on vault and
uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...
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 Rebecca "Becky" Downie (born 24 January 1992 in Nottingham) is a British artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a double European champion (2014 and 2016) and 2014 C ...
. She performed well in qualifications at the European Championships, qualifying for the individual all-around, vault and uneven bars finals. On 17 April, she competed in the all-around final and placed third, behind
Giulia Steingruber Giulia Steingruber (born 24 March 1994) is a retired Swiss artistic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World bronze medalist on vault. Additionally she is the 2015 European all-around champion, a four-time European vault champion (2013 ...
of Switzerland and
Maria Kharenkova Maria Aleksandrovna Kharenkova (russian: Мария Александровна Харенкова; born 29 October 1998) is a retired Russian-Georgian artistic gymnast. She is the 2014 European champion on the balance beam. Junior career ...
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. Downie was the
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
Sportswoman of the Month for April 2015. On 20 December, she was named the
BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. It is awarded to the sportsperson aged 17 or under as of 1 January of that year, who has made the most outstanding con ...
.


2016

In May 2016, Downie won all four individual event titles at the
FIG World Cup FIG World Cup refers to a number of events organized by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) across seven competitive gymnastics disciplines: 1) acrobatic gymnastics, 2) aerobic gymnastics, 3) men's artistic gymnastics, 4) women's artistic ...
event in Osijek, Croatia, becoming the first gymnast to accomplish this feat at a World Cup competition since
Ludmilla Tourischeva Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva ( Russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Тури́щева; also transliterated as Ludmilla Turischeva, Ludmilla Tourischcheva, and Ljudmila Turichtchieva, born 7 October 1952) is a former Russian gymnast, Ukr ...
in 1975. The following month, at the 2016 European Championships in
Bern, Switzerland german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...
, she won silver medals with the team and on vault and floor exercise. In July, she was named to the British team for the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, along with Becky Downie,
Claudia Fragapane Claudia Fragapane (born 24 October 1997) is a British artistic gymnast. She came to prominence at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was the first English woman to win four gold medals in a single Games since 1930. In 2015, Fragapane was pa ...
,
Ruby Harrold Ruby Esther Harrold (born 4 June 1996) is a British artistic gymnast who was a member of the British Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Harrold was also a reserve athlete for the 2012 Summer Olympics team. ...
and
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 ...
.


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. However, she returned in the next rotation, performing two vaults, and qualified to the all-around final in 20th place. She improved on that performance in the final, finishing 13th, and the British women finished fifth in the team competition.


2017

In April Downie represented Great Britain at the
European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...
in
Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...
, Romania, where she made history by qualifying for all five individual finals. 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 Mélanie Johanna de Jesus dos Santos (born 5 March 2000) is a French artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 European all-around champion, a two time European champion on the floor exercise (2018, 2019), and the 2021 European champion on the balance ...
. She also won silver medals on vault and floor exercise, and won the bronze medal on the uneven bars. At the beginning of August she underwent surgery on her ankle due to an injury she had dealt with at both the British Championships and European Championships that year. Due to the surgery Downie was unable to compete at the 2017 World Championships.


2018

While Downie had intended to compete at the
2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...
, her ankle was still causing her issues despite the surgery she had undergone previously and she did not compete for a majority of the year. On 27 September Downie was named to the team to compete at the
World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in
Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
,
Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
alongside
Becky Downie Rebecca "Becky" Downie (born 24 January 1992 in Nottingham) is a British artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a double European champion (2014 and 2016) and 2014 C ...
,
Alice Kinsella Alice Nicole Kinsella (born 13 March 2001) is an Irish-English artistic gymnast and member of the British national gymnastics team. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event, and was par ...
,
Georgia-Mae Fenton Georgia-Mae Fenton (born 2 November 2000) is an elite English artistic gymnast and a member of both the British national gymnastics team and the England Commonwealth Games gymnastics squad. She is the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth champion on un ...
, and
Kelly Simm Kelly Jay Simm (born 23 April 1995) is an English artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is the 2015 Summer Universiade Gymnastics at the 2015 Summer Universiade – Women's artistic individual all-around, all-around champion, Gymnastics at ...
. The team finished ninth in qualifications and did not advance to the team final. Individually Downie qualified to the all-around final where she finished 11th.


2019

Downie was selected to compete at the 2019 European Championships alongside
Amelie Morgan Amelie Morgan (born 31 May 2003) is a British artistic gymnast. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event. She is the 2021 European Championships bronze medalist on the uneven bars. Ad ...
,
Alice Kinsella Alice Nicole Kinsella (born 13 March 2001) is an Irish-English artistic gymnast and member of the British national gymnastics team. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event, and was par ...
, and
Kelly Simm Kelly Jay Simm (born 23 April 1995) is an English artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is the 2015 Summer Universiade Gymnastics at the 2015 Summer Universiade – Women's artistic individual all-around, all-around champion, Gymnastics at ...
. She competed at the British Championships where she placed first in the all-around, on vault, and on floor exercise. She later competed at the Birmingham World Cup where she placed seventh after falling off the balance beam and uneven bars. At the European Championships Downie qualified to the all-around final in fourth place and to the vault final in first. In the all-around final Downie finished second behind
Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos Mélanie Johanna de Jesus dos Santos (born 5 March 2000) is a French artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 European all-around champion, a two time European champion on the floor exercise (2018, 2019), and the 2021 European champion on the balance ...
of France. She won bronze in the vault final behind 2015 vault champion
Maria Paseka Maria Valeryevna Paseka (russian: Мария Валерьевна Пасека; born 19 July 1995) is a Russian artistic gymnast and member of the Russia women's national gymnastics team. During her decade-long career, she has primarily been succ ...
and 2017 vault champion
Coline Devillard Coline Devillard (born 9 October 2000) is a French artistic gymnast. Devillard is the 2022 World bronze medalist, the 2017 and 2023 European champion, and the 2019 European silver medalist on vault. She was the first French female gymnast to w ...
. In September Downie was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
alongside
Alice Kinsella Alice Nicole Kinsella (born 13 March 2001) is an Irish-English artistic gymnast and member of the British national gymnastics team. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event, and was par ...
,
Becky Downie Rebecca "Becky" Downie (born 24 January 1992 in Nottingham) is a British artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a double European champion (2014 and 2016) and 2014 C ...
,
Taeja James Taeja Nicole James (born 2002) is an English artistic gymnast. She participated in the 2016 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Bern, Switzerland german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipaliti ...
, and
Georgia-Mae Fenton Georgia-Mae Fenton (born 2 November 2000) is an elite English artistic gymnast and a member of both the British national gymnastics team and the England Commonwealth Games gymnastics squad. She is the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth champion on un ...
. 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 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. Individually Downie qualified for the vault final. During the team final she contributed scores on vault and uneven bars towards Great Britain's sixth place finish. In the vault final Downie performed a Double-Twisting
Yurchenko Yurchenko is a Ukrainian patronymic surname that comes from the name Yuriy. It may refer to: * David Yurchenko (born 1986), Russian-Armenian footballer * Denys Yurchenko (born 1978), Ukrainian pole vaulter * Ihor Yurchenko (born 1960), Soviet a ...
and a Cheng, earning an average score of 14.816 and winning the bronze medal behind Americans
Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most de ...
and
Jade Carey Jade Ashtyn Carey (born May 27, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Best known for her abilities on vault and floor exercise, she is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor e ...
. This was Downie's first individual
World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
medal. Later that day Downie's sister Becky won her first individual World Championships medal, a silver medal on the uneven bars.


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. However the Birmingham World Cup was later canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...
.


2021

In May, British Gymnastics announced that Downie would be taking some time away from gymnastics to be with her family following the sudden death of her 24-year-old brother Joshua on the eve of the final Olympic trial, thus ending her Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid.


Controversy

In 2021, both of the Downie sisters spoke out concerning the pressures placed on to competitiors, including over-training when injured and weight-shaming. In 2023 interviews, Ellie stated she had quit to focus on her "mental health and happiness", and also to coach junior athletes.


Personal life

Ellie is the sister of 2008 and 2016 Olympian
Becky Downie Rebecca "Becky" Downie (born 24 January 1992 in Nottingham) is a British artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a double European champion (2014 and 2016) and 2014 C ...
. She attended the
Rushcliffe School ''Consistency and effort'' , established = 1961 (grammar school) 1969 (comprehensive school) 2012 (academy) , closed = , type = Academy , trust = Spencer Academies Trust ...
in
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
until the summer of 2015. In April 2022, she and sister Becky received
honorary degrees An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
in sport from
Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as a new university in 1992, although its roots go back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design, w ...
.


Competitive history


Notes


References


External links


Official website
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Downie, Ellie 1999 births Living people British female artistic gymnasts English female artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of Great Britain Gymnasts at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships European champions in gymnastics Sportspeople from Nottingham People associated with Nottingham Trent University