Great Britain rounded off their Tokyo Olympic campaign with an impressive 65-medal haul, bettering their record on home soil at the London Games in 2012.The athletes won 21 gold, 22 silver, and 21 bronze across a record-breaking 25 different sports. Helping them reach this tally was the Team GB gymnastics squad.Alice Kinsella has reflected on her inspirational Olympic debut after she won bronze with her fellow Brits in the gymnastics team all-around final."It still feels surreal right now," she told GiveMeSport Women. "We didn't expect to come away with a medal. We expected to go and just enjoy the experience and that's what we did, so taking away the bronze medal and making history – it feels absolutely amazing."Kinsella featured alongside Amelie Morgan and 16-year-old twins Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova. They finished with a total score of 164.096, pipping Italy to third place on the podium. Team GB came from behind in seventh place to secure bronze thanks to inspired displays from the quartet. Kinsella said that after they "smashed the vault" section, she looked to the screen and first realised the team were in with a huge chance of becoming Olympic medallists. "I fell to the floor crying my eyes out," she said after realising Team GB had just become bronze medal winners in Tokyo. "When we saw it, we all went crazy – screaming, crying, everything."
With an average age of 17, the team were exceptional at holding their nerve and seeing the event through until the last moments. However, Kinsella explained it wasn't easy to hide the excitement over a potential Olympic medal.
"Once we all finished on [uneven] bars, we smashed it. Me and Am [Morgan] got 14s, Jess [Gadirova] got high 13s and I looked at Am and said, 'hold on a second. I don't want to jinx it but I think we've actually done it but let's chill! Let's keep our emotions in check because we have no idea what's going on here'."
Despite airing the fact she was unhappy with her qualifying performance, Kinsella and her compatriots went on to make history in Tokyo. The mental resilience shown by the youngest gymnastics squad at the Games has earned them a place in Britain's history books. But we certainly haven't seen the last of the Team GB superstars.
"I'm definitely going for Paris 2024," Kinsella beamed. "We'll have to wait and see what happens with that but there's a very exciting future ahead."
Alice is speaking on behalf of Team GB and Olympic partner, Bridgestone, as part of its Olympic Experience Roadshow. Bridgestone is a proud partner for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games.