Ellie Black: Gymnastics Ambassador Extraordinaire

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• Dates: July 27 – August 5
• Venue: Bercy Arena
• TV channels: NBC, USA Network, E!
• Streaming: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, NBC app, NBC Olympics app

TV Broadcasts + Streaming Info

Known in gymnastics for being the most decorated Canadian women’s gymnast in history, Ellie Black will become a four-time Olympian in Paris. Along with four men’s gymnasts, Black is the only women’s gymnast competing in Paris to compete at four consecutive games. From being just 16, competing at her first Olympics in London, to placing 5th in the All-Around in Rio, to becoming the 2017 World All-Around silver medalist at her home worlds in Montreal, Black saw huge success “early” in her career. Since then, she’s won two World medals in 2022, helping Team Canada to the podium in the Team competition for the first time in history, and has her name in the Code of Points, successfully competing the “Black” on uneven bars. Now 13 years into her Senior Elite gymnastics career, Black is ready to lead Team Canada, potentially to their first Olympic medal in Women’s gymnastics. 

At the conclusion of Podium Training, Black stopped to chat with reporters from around the globe about her career and the Games ahead. As always, she was kind, generous with her time, and stayed to answer every question up until it was time for her arena transportation to take her back to the Olympic Village. Here’s a look at some of what she had to say…

On Longevity…

[Going to four Olympics] wasn’t really what gymnasts did [in the past]. And since London, we’ve seen a lot of girls stay around for multiple quads. Then maybe you saw gymnasts stay around for two. But now to see athletes staying around for three or four or more, it’s pretty amazing to see that development in the sport. And for myself, looking back from London, I don’t think I would have imagined myself still being here to have four Olympics, but I’m so grateful that I am. And it’s not easy. It’s definitely something that you work at, and it can be challenging, but it’s so rewarding. And I love what I do, and that’s why I still do it. And I can still help my team. That’s a really important thing for me. Also, to be an inspiration for other athletes to show that as you get older in the sport, you can still do it and you just have to adapt, but there’s no set timeline. 

On what’s allowed for her to have such a strong career over a long span…

I think just getting smarter with training and adapting to the different changes in your body and training plan, but also learning that you get more knowledge. You become more of a veteran. You have a lot of experience to rely on. And it’s not just you have to be young to peak. You can peak in your 20s. You can peak later in your career and you can continue to get better. And I think we’ve definitely shown that. We’ve proved that a lot of the older athletes who are still competing. So I think it was just looking outside of that narrow mindset and that little box and not being afraid to push some boundaries, go outside what the norm was and create a new norm.

On her floor routine that got such a great response at Worlds 2023 and its development…

So I’m doing the same floor routine as last year at Worlds. I’m super excited to perform it. It’s a great routine. It’s got a lot of different emotions. I think it really speaks to my story and gymnastics in general, and the ups and the downs, and I try and convey that. And I feel like I feel a lot of that.

I mean, a floor routine takes time. You start months and months in advance, and you put it together. You work on it, you add the tumbling, you tweak stuff, you see what works, what doesn’t. And for me, it’s all about that story, what you’re trying to convey and making that cohesive with your tumbling and the journey.

I worked with an artistry coach in Canada, Julia Spivak…We created it together. But she put me outside of my comfort zone a little bit, but I think I was really excited to do that. It’s very me. It’s very different. It’s very strong, powerful, conveys a lot of different emotions. But I think for me, it was a lot of a story. And so she really helped me to convey that story and that journey.

On her training plan…

For me, the longevity, I don’t necessarily train as many hours or I don’t do necessarily as many reps. I think it’s knowing your body, knowing how many reps you need to do, when you need to take a step back, knowing that rest is actually a priority, fueling your body is a priority, doing what’s best for you. Everyone is different. So not everyone, not every athlete is going to fall into the same box. You have to do what works for you. And as you get older, I think you learn a lot about yourself and you know that. And you become an adult, and you want to be able to make a lot of those decisions yourself, obviously with your coach as well. But I think it’s way more of a partnership. So I think as I’ve gotten older, it’s just about managing, having a really good work-life balance, too, because we’re an adult in the sport, so you want to make sure that you’re still enjoying your life as well as gymnastics, because I think that’s going to help elevate your gymnastics in the end.

On how many hours a week she trains…

Honestly, I probably train about… How many hours did I do in 2012 compared to now? Same. I probably did a little bit more, but I’ve never really trained a lot. I probably trained, what, 20 hours in the week all my career, and then I do strength and conditioning and injury prevention on top of that. So there’s a few extra hours there, but it’s 20 hours.

On her balanced approach to training…

I’ve been doing strength conditioning…for over 10 years now. And I think we see a lot of athletes doing that, actually preparing our bodies for the load that we put through it, gaining muscle. You can also be artistic while still being strong. I think that’s something we’ve seen in the development of the sport, especially as the skills get so hard and the skill level is so high. Coming into this Olympics, we have seen so many injuries. So we want the girls to be strong. We want them to be able to handle what we’re doing and not be overtraining. So I think it’s just finding that balance, making sure that we’re strong, and we’re not overtraining. We’re not doing an insane amount of reps. We’re also not spending our whole complete lives in the gym because a lot of that then is draining. And you won’t stay in the sport long if you don’t have a good balance.

On her ankle injury and how it’s feeling now…

Honestly, this past year has been really good for my ankle. And then just recently, again, you have to learn how to manage in coming into the Olympics. There’s a lot of numbers, a lot of competitions, qualifications. So I’m coming in maybe not with my ankles the way I ideally want to be here, but I’m still able to be here for the team, working with the physios to make it happen. So it’s maybe not the ideal prep, but sometimes we can’t help some of those things that happen. But at the end of the day, I’m really grateful to be here to help my team, to enjoy my fourth Olympics, and just make the most of it.

Gymnastics takes a toll on your body, so you have to try and just manage it all. But we’ve got the best team behind us making it happen, again, being smart with how many reps I’m doing, what I’m doing in and out of the gym, and just going to come in and give it my best shot.

On sponsorships that have allowed her to have such a long career and focus on the sport…

Love that question. That’s the only way I can do this. So a lot of people don’t really understand that. I do sport because I love it. I do Gymnastics because I love it, and I need help, and I need partnerships, I need sponsorships to be able to do that. It’s not a job, at least in Canada, where you just get paid from the government and you can make a living off of that. So for me, I need that support, and I’m really lucky that I do have those people supporting me. But I think it’s just making that a little bit more aware, and especially in gymnastics, because it’s not typically one of those sports where we have had a lot of sponsorship. So I’m very grateful for that. And like I said, I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t have those partnerships and that support. So I think it’s just opening the conversation to that.

[Growth is] happening. And I think the more we normalize that, and have conversations about it, people can understand why it’s so important. And we need to support the Canadian athletes, especially the female athletes, to stay longer in the sport and be able to make it a career.

For more:

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All That Glitters! GK Elite and USA Gymnastics unveil Olympic leotards

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Bring on Brazil! Andrade and Team Brazil eye gold

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Simone Biles Leads Team USA Redemption Tour

Frederick Richard and Brody Malone Lead Team USA Men

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Carly Patterson’s New Role with Team USA

Road to Paris Gets Real – Olympic Draw

5 Key Takeaways from Winter Cup

Photo credits: Ricardo Bufolin for Inside Gymnastics

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