Trampoline Olympic champion joins the circus

Bryony Page is back in training in Poole, Dorset

When Bryony Page triumphed in Paris, she became the first trampolinist to win Olympic gold for Team GB.

She is already eyeing Los Angeles in 2028 but first she is embarking on a new challenge - by joining the circus.

The 33-year-old, who lives in Poole, is heading to Montreal to train with Cirque du Soleil and hopes to join them on tour next year.

"I love the idea of performing in the show and using trampoline in a different way," she said.

Crewe-born Page, who won silver in Rio in 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020, says she is still "in shock" after winning gold in August.

She said: "I know it's happened and I have a medal to prove it to myself, but I still can't really process how it's happened and that it actually has.

"When I was a kid, the Olympians felt like they were superheroes.

"For me, personally, having the complete set, it just feels really nice and it's quite poetic with the trampoline because it went silver, then down to bronze, and bounced back up to gold."

Bryony Page says she is still in shock after winning gold in Paris

Page, says her path to Olympic stardom, like her medal journey, has also had its ups and downs, including overcoming injuries and a period of sporting yips - a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills - during her teens.

"It took a lot of years to get all of the skills back," she said.

"Sometimes it’s still there - it's a fear level. With trampolining, you have to be a little bit brave and a bit stupid or crazy to do it.

"So it does make it more special If you've gone through challenges and been able to overcome them and reached that pinnacle of the sport."

Her latest adventure will see her training with the world-famous Canadian circus troupe.

"Plan A would be to do that and then come back for the LA Olympics," she said.

"When I compete and there's a crowd, I see it as a performance just as much as I see it as a competition.

"I love that side of it, that performance side, with the costumes and the make-up and the set and the music and the team and the camaraderie.

"I feel better and stronger now than I did in my early twenties.

"I love the feeling of flying through the sky and spinning and turning, and the G forces that we get.

"I can't imagine doing anything different at the moment."