Trampoline champion Bryony Page reveals 'negative thoughts' before Olympic glory - and sets her sights on the circus

3 August 2024, 10:37 | Updated: 3 August 2024, 11:14

LBC's Charlotte Lynch speaks to Britain's Olympic trampolining champion Bryony Page

By Charlotte Lynch

@charlotterlynch

Olympic champion Bryony Page had to tell her brain to “shut up” after struggling with “worries and negative thoughts” before going on to win gold in the women’s trampolining in Paris.

Speaking to LBC just hours after completing her routine, the world champion said she feared she wouldn’t even make it on to the podium.

“Going in to it, I felt like maybe I’ll finish fifth, maybe I’ll miss out on the medals – you have all of those worries and all of the negative thoughts going through your brain”, she said. “My brain is so annoying sometimes, I just have to tell it to shut up”.

The 33-year-old, who took silver in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020, said she “refocused” and “tried to stay calm in the moment”, to get her through the show-stopping 10-skill routine which saw her top the leaderboard.

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Page revealed she made a mistake and downgraded her routine when she was mid-air, so her final trick was not as difficult as she had first intended.

She also admitted she had forgotten there was still an athlete left to compete after her, so prematurely celebrated as though she had won gold.

“I reacted as if I had already won the gold, and then I remembered there was another person to go. I thought ‘at least I know what it’s like to feel like an Olympic champion, even if it’s taken away from me. But it wasn’t, so we’re all good.”

Jess Thom, Team GB’s lead psychologist told LBC “it’s not abnormal” for athletes to feel anxious.

She told Matthew Wright: “Olympians have similar thoughts and feelings to every day people – when they’re competing they’re very good at staying in the moment and being present, but it’s not abnormal to hear athletes before they get to the start line talking about feeling anxious, and feeling like things could go wrong.

“These guys are pros at managing the pressure, they work so hard year on year to prepare for that moment, so they have a really clear idea of what they’re there to do and what success looks like. They have amazing strategies to manage those unhelpful thoughts and feelings that will inevitably show up”, she said.

Having achieved the title of World champion and Olympic champion, Page now has her sights set on the circus.

She told LBC: “I’m hoping that Cirque du Soleil might want me at some point before I get too old. I’d love to have that experience and perform in front of a crowd in a different way – I’ve dreamed about that for a really long time so I’d love to have the opportunity to do it”.

She also did not rule out competing in the LA games in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032, and said she hoped Cirque de Soleil would let her return to the circus after the Olympics.