Godwin’s golden Games inspires a new generation of gymnasts

The brightest Australian gymnastics star in a generation says she feels a duty to help “mother” younger athletes as the sport grapples with the fall-out from an inquiry that uncovered a culture of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the elite level.

Georgia Godwin, who won a second gold medal in the Birmingham Games on Tuesday morning in the vault and a second silver on the uneven bars, said she was conscious of ensuring the sport could be seen in “the best light we can” following the scandal.

Georgia Godwin took silver in the individual uneven bars.Credit: Getty Images

The Queenslander’s fourth medal in 48 hours has catapulted her to stardom and within reach of equalling Allana Slater, who holds the career record for an Australian gymnast at the Commonwealth Games with eight medals.

The sport’s governing body last year apologised to athletes under its care who experienced abuse and vowed to investigate all matters of misconduct after the Australian Human Rights Commission published an independent review on the culture and practices of gymnastics in the country.

An emotional Godwin, who considered not competing in Birmingham because of slow recovery from dual ankle surgery late last year, said the revelations last year had troubled her, but she was confident the sport was now headed in the right direction.

“I do my best to try and show that gymnastics is a safe sport and that everyone should feel safe doing gymnastics,” she said. “And we’re heading in the right direction, so that is really exciting to see.”

More gold for Georgia Godwin in the vault.Credit: Getty Images

Godwin, the team captain, said at 24 she saw herself “like a mother figure” to the younger gymnasts.

“I really just tried to take them under my wing and show them and what sportsmanship looks like,” she said.

The inquiry was triggered following complaints of physical and mental abuse by former gymnasts who said they were made to train and compete while injured. It found that bullying and body-shaming were prevalent in a “win-at-all-costs” culture that prevailed across the sport and that it created “unacceptable risks” for the safety and wellbeing of often very young gymnasts.

The pint-sized dynamo, who started the sport as a three-year-old, won her second gold medal by defeating Canada’s Laurie Denommee in the women’s vault on a tiebreak.

Godwin landed a 13.700 in her first vault, then 12.766 in her second. It drew her level with Denommee on 13.233 (13.566 and 12.900), but Godwin pulled ahead by recording the highest-scoring individual vault.

An hour later, she was just tipped out of another gold when reigning Commonwealth champion, England’s Georgia-Mae Fenton, forced the Australian to settle for silver on the uneven bars. Godwin has the chance to add to her tally in the final of the balance beam on Wednesday morning.

Godwin has admitted the anguish of injury and rehabilitation had taken its toll on her mental health in the past year and that during the scandal last year she was forced to block out much of the conversation.

“Mental health wise it didn’t really help me, so I tried to avoid all of that. It was around the time of a big competition, so I just put things like social media to the side, and I knew it was being taken care of so I could step back and let everyone deal with it,” she said.

“There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes. I train anywhere between 26 to 30 hours a week. On top of that, I work 20 hours a week, and, on top of that, I’ve got recovery, rehab, physio, nutrition and everything else that needs to be done, so it is taxing.”

She said she would not put any expectations on herself for another medal and would “start fresh” and “just go out and enjoy” the beam final.

Godwin plans for a holiday in London and France in the coming weeks before taking a break from the sport to consider her future.

“The medals are a huge bonus, but just being here experiencing this, being on the Australian team wearing the green and gold, is enough for me. I always go out and do my best.”

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