4 nottinghampost.comTUESDAY NOVEMBER 4, 2014

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Sportswoman of the Year

Becky’s aimingfor World gongsIT HAS been an ‘incredible’year for Nottingham gymnastBecky Downie.But there will be no resting

on her laurels for the 22-year-old – she knows she must keepimproving and perfecting herperformance if she is to add toher honours list in 2015.A European title on the un-

even bars, plus individual andteam gold medals at this sum-mer’s Commonwealth Games,saw Downie crowned Sports-woman of the Year at the PostAwards.“It means a lot just to be

recognised for all my achieve-ments,” she said.“I’ve put in a lot of work over

the years and it feels like I’vebeen waiting a long time to getthese achievements.“But this year has been in-

credible and I’m just reallypleased.“From the start of the year,

things have gone pretty well.“I’ve had a few ups and

downs but that’s normal.“My main aims this year

were, first, the EuropeanChampionships.“My personal target was to

come away with an individualmedal. To come away with thegold, for me, that’s the high-light of my year, over any othercompetition.“The Commonwealths, I

really wanted to make thatteam successful.“It was really, really exciting.

To come away with two goldswas phenomenal.“I just really wanted to build

on my performances in thosetwo championships and takethat experience into theWorlds.“I think it bodes well for the

future.”Downie recorded her best

will be good to see whereeverybody’s at.“Towards the end of next

year, we have a home countryWorlds, which is going to beexciting.“I know as a team we are

definitely going to be strivingfor our first team medal there.“For me, it’s a great oppor-

tunity to try to get that in-dividualmedal onbars. Iwouldlove to try tomake a beam finalas well.“It’s all to play for. It’s going

to be a lot of hard work. I can’tjust rest on what I’ve done thisyear because people are up-grading all the time and im-proving their routines, so I’vegot to do the same.“I don’t see any reason why

not, so I’m looking forward toit.”And that will mean a winter

of hard work in the mean-time.“The gymnastics skills you

don’t lose, you just lose thefitness,” said Downie.“You have to do more of the

skill-based work when you’reyounger, as opposed to the fit-ness. But for me, I’m comingtowards the end of my careerand the skills are in there –you’ve done them thousandsand thousands of times.“It’s just about keeping my

body as healthy as I can.”

‘’It’s going to be a lotof hard work. I can’tjust rest on whatI’ve done this year.

Becky Downie

Becky Downie in action atthe Commonwealth Games,where she won two goldmedals.

ever World Championship pla-cing by finishing fifth in thefinal in China.She hopes to build on that at

next year’s tournament inGlasgow, and is also targeting ateam medal to better a sixthplace this time around.“Next year is definitely going

to be a big year,” she said.“A lot of the juniors will po-

tentially be coming up, so it

Becky Downie, with (left to right) runner-up Rachel Parish, Bonita Norris, sponsor PMGCrepresentative Hannah Cunningham, Sophie Hitchon and runner up Elise Christie.