Amelie Morgan Eyes Paris 2024

Amelie Morgan Eyes Paris 2024

By Aoife Cassidy 

From the Olympic stage to the NCAA, Amelie Morgan has had a great deal of success in the sport – but she’s not done just yet! The Olympic, European and Youth Olympic medalist from Great Britain is currently in her junior season at the University of Utah having accepted a scholarship in 2021 shortly after earning a historic bronze medal for Great Britain at the Olympics in Tokyo. However, she still has Elite aspirations.

Morgan, who recently announced her Elite comeback will compete at the upcoming English Championships, her first Elite competition since Tokyo, and will juggle both her Elite and NCAA commitments for the upcoming season.

Inside Gymnastics caught up with Morgan to talk about her comeback to the Elite scene, her transition to NCAA, life in Utah and updates from the last time we spoke with her early in 2020.

Firstly, you seem to be enjoying life in the US, how have you settled in to life in Utah and how is training going?

I absolutely love it here at Utah. I arrived here my freshman year without even taking a visit or meeting anyone in person and I instantly felt like I was part of this family. I couldn’t ask for a better team, coaching staff or support system. Training is going well, I love that I am challenged everyday to be better and that as a team we are able to help each other everyday. Outside of the gym, I love being surrounded my the mountains and getting to hike, paddle board and just adventure during the summers here.

NCAA season is currently in full swing. How will you manage competing for Utah and coming back to the Elite scene and competing in the UK?

It definitely isn’t easy balancing both NCAA season and preparing for the Elite scene, but I have worked with my coaches here at Utah and back home in the UK to work out the best logistics to make this happen. I think we have done a great job at finding a way I can do both and still maximize my performance. I will be taking a few weeks out to compete in England, but will be back in time for Pac 12 championships and the rest of post season.

On that note, you had originally committed to the compete for Cal Berkeley – what made you change your mind and choose Utah instead?

After committing to Cal, I made the decision to defer until the next year, as I thought I wanted to stay in the Elite world for another year. However, leading up to Tokyo, knowing 2021 would be a big year, I decided I no longer wanted to defer and that I was ready to come to college. As this was such a late decision, a scholarship was no longer an option for my first year. This made my decision to look at other options, which through other connections, led me to Utah.

You have been rostered to compete at the upcoming English Championships! What are your goals for this competition?

Obviously, I have been out of the Elite world for a couple years and had to balance a lot leading up to this competition. For me, I really just aim to go and do the best that I can and get back into the swing of competing all around in the elite format. I just want to have fun, perform to my best ability, and take it day by day.

What are your goals coming back to Elite? Do you hope to vie for a spot on the British Olympic team?

My goal for coming back really was to just challenge myself to see how much I can do. Obviously, making the Olympic team for the second time would be a dream come true all over again, however I have to be realistic. If it doesn’t work out the way I want it too, I don’t want to be disappointed. I already feel I have reached the pinnacle of my career, this is purely a bonus for me.

How did you make the decision to come back to Elite and what is the motivation behind the comeback?

It sounds cliche, but really my love for the sport. I have always loved gymnastics and how you can always find ways to get better. I know this would be my last Olympic cycle as a gymnast and I never want to look back at life and have any regrets, so just knowing that I at least tried my best is enough to make me happy!

Do you think training in the US and specifically competing in the NCAA has changed you as a gymnast/competitor?

I definitely think NCAA has enhanced and developed skills both in and outside of the gym. I feel we have such a focus on consistency and intention, making every turn count in the gym and showing that you can hit routines under pressure every day. Competing so often, it definitely gets more comfortable and it gives you so many opportunities to figure out what works for you under pressure. I also think that focusing more on execution rather than difficulty has really helped when translating back to elite routines.

Last time we spoke, you mentioned you would love to compete at Europeans, Worlds and Commonwealths. You have competed at both European Championships and Olympics but not Worlds or Commonwealths – can you see yourself sticking around to compete at these Championships?

I think realistically with the timeframes of when World Championships and Commonwealths are I don’t think that would be realistic to aim for. If I feel good and really have the desire to go for those competitions maybe I would consider, but I’m also really looking forward to my senior year at Utah and spending it with the team here, which is my plan at the moment.

You also mentioned your brother is also a gymnast- is he still involved in gymnastics and if so, how is he getting on? 

He is still doing gymnastics while studying too, he’s part of the Men’s English Gymnastics Team and is doing pretty well! He will also be competing at the English Championships, which is so exciting that we get to compete at the same competitions again as it’s been such a long time, so will be good to see him.

And finally, do you think the British women can defend the bronze medal position that you and your team won in Tokyo? Or do even better? 

I think all the girls are looking really strong at the moment, it’s definitely a realistic goal for the team to aim for. It’s a big motivator knowing that we have done it before, so I really hope the team is able to show consistency at the games and continue making history.

Photos by Lloyd Smith and Ricardo Bufolin for Inside Gymnastics

Look for the feature in the February 2024 issue of Inside Gymnastics magazine.

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