Bryony Page has outlined her desire to run off to the circus after making history by becoming the first British gymnast to win an Olympic trampoline title at the 2024 Games. The Team GB star clinched an emotional maiden gold medal in Paris, levelling up her silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Page was made to wait as the penultimate competitor but produced a world-beating performance, scoring 56.480 through a series of spellbinding twists and somersaults.
The 33-year-old collapsed to her knees and burst into tears in ecstasy with her display, despite China’s Hu Yicheng having the opportunity to snatch a last-gasp gold.
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A dramatic fall tarnished Yicheng’s routine and simultaneously confirmed Page’s triumph, overcoming an injury-stricken year since world title glory last year.
Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya of Belarus – competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete – took silver with a 56.060 score, and Canada’s Sophiane Methot won bronze.
The morning after the night before, Page spoke to BBC Breakfast, insisting she wasn’t yet finished competing after reaching the pinnacle of her career.
But her ambitions also include becoming part of the world’s most famous circus, the Cirque du Soleil, where she would bound to be a hit.
“Potentially, yeah, maybe another two, as well. I like the idea of, I’ve never competed in Australia before so I would absolutely love to be able to compete in Brisbane [at the 2032 Olympics],” Page explained.
“But I’ve got other plans too so it’s just depending on where my priorities lie and what I really want to do. So, I’m definitely not done competing yet because I have a few more things I want to compete in.
“I’ve got the World Games with Izzy [Songhurst], my sync partner who also competed at these Olympics in trampoline. We’ve got a World Games to aim for next year.
“And I’ve got other skills I want to do and complete just to see where my glass ceiling is and try to break through it.
“To just try and break the barriers of women’s trampolining and see how many triples I can put into a routine and how many twists I can get in!
“And we’ve got a new code of points, which means the difficulty is changing, so it’s really exciting times ahead. I also want to see if I can make it into Cirque du Soleil and join the circus for a while!
“Then, if there’s the opportunity to come back for LA [in 2028] and Brisbane, if I still want to do that, I’ll do that as well. I just want to do everything!”
On the day of her maiden Olympic gold, Page went into more detail about her Cirque du Soleil dream. She said: “I would love to perform.
“It’s been a dream of mine for a long time, and I’m not getting any younger, so to get to do it while I’m still feeling strong and healthy would be great.
“I love the idea of performing, wearing costumes, putting on makeup and being part of a group. I used to do gymnastics with a display gym, so I’d love to be part of that again.”
