Amy Tinkler, a young British artistic gymnast, is about to turn 16 next week. However, there will be no birthday cake and unwrapping of presents. Instead, she’s aiming for a more promising and satisfying prize: to help the British women’s team qualify for next year’s Summer Olympics, as well as making her World Championship debut along the way.
The challenge that Tinkler and her teammates will face in the World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow is simple – well at least on paper. To secure an Olympic berth for the 2016 Rio Olympics, the team must finish in the top eight of the women’s all-around competition, which will start with qualification rounds on Friday, October 23 before the finals begin on 27th October, Tinkler’s Birthday.
After claiming the sixth spot in the 2014 World Championships in China, the team is confident that this year’s World championship is already within their reach. With the stakes so high, Tinkler is willing to postpone her birthday celebration.
“It’s going to be awesome to compete on my birthday in the team final but given that I’ve put in so much work and our squad is so strong this year, I am going to wait to celebrate,” she says cheerfully. “So there will no cake on my birthday and I’ll probably wait until the competition is done before opening my presents too.”
Tinkler competed at the 2015 British Gymnastics Championships at the Echo Arena earlier this year, where she finished first in both the all-around and floor event, beating the four-time Commonwealth gold medallist Claudia Fragapane and European bronze medallist Ellie Downie. Considering that Tinkler had just recently transitioned from junior to senior level – a progression that often causes a “culture shock” effect as the young athlete adjusts to a whole new environment and more difficult routines – it also marked her as a gymnast to keep an eye on.
However, she insists that the prospects of competing with the best gymnasts from all-over the world for the first time in front of 5,000 people at the SSE Hydro Arena will not intimidate her.
“I love big audiences, and with the home crowd the atmosphere should be amazing,” she said. “I’ll be a little nervous, but nerves usually help in competitions. You’ve just got to be able to not let them get to you.”
If Tinkler will be a part of the top 24 gymnasts in the team qualification, she will also get the opportunity to qualify for the individual all-around finals and will need to make it in the top eight in the floor event to make it to the finals. If everything goes within her favor, she also hopes to compete in both events together with her friend Fragapane, who does not only act as her inspiration, but also regularly makes her laugh.
“Claudia and I are both very similar because our best events are the same – the floor and vault – and we do some of our training together,” Tinkler said. “I look up to her so much, and what she achieved at the Commonwealths was incredible. So just to be around her is a huge help. She keeps team spirits up and she’s really nice. And when training is tough she always finds a way to make us laugh or calm us down.”
Tinkler has definitely gone a long way since she started training gymnastics at the age of two and became a part of the elite programme at the South Durham Gymnastics Club at the age of five. “By then I guess I could do most of the basic skills such as cartwheels, hand stands, forehands and it all progressed from there,” she says modestly.
While her parents are in front of the television watching their favorite TV shows, Tinkler preferred to spend her time practicing, doing backflips on every bed inside the house and doing round-off flicks on a low beam in the front room. “I had far too much energy,” Tinkler said, laughing.
Tinkler entered her first competition at the age of seven and by the age of 11 she was already competing for Britain in junior competition for the first time. Now, after attaining another goal of being a part of the World Championships team at the age of 15, she is recalibrating her ambitions higher; to take part in the Olympics.
To assist her with her goals, Tinkler’s school in Durham allowed her to stagger her GCSEs; she will take some next year and more in 2017. It means that she will be able to train hard without struggle for up to 30 hours per week, polishing and perfecting every twist, spin and flip.
“We have to qualify first and only five British girls will be selected so it could be anyone,” she said. “But like any young gymnast the Olympics has always been the dream.”
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