Paris Olympics 2024: Following Ondine Achampong’s Exit, Another British Gymnast Amelie Morgan Backs Out

Just a day back, British gymnast Ondine Achampong pulled out because of an ACL tear, potentially losing a spot in the Paris Olympics. Now Great Britain faced one more setback as Gymnast Amelie Morgan has decided to withdraw from the elite stage. Morgan won bronze in the team event at the 2020 Olympics. Amelie took to her Instagram to announce the decision.

“During the NCAA season, I took some time out to compete back in Great Britain.” She continued, “I showed that I was still able to perform at the elite level and felt like I had put myself in a good position moving forward. After my experience back home and returning to Utah and my team, in a supportive and caring environment, I have found myself with a different outlook. Unexpected challenges and obstacles have led to a change of heart and I’ve decided this is unfortunately the end of my elite journey.”

Morgan won the bronze medal in the uneven bars competition at the 2021 European Championships. She also took home a silver medal in the Youth Olympics’ all-around competition, a bronze on the balance beam, and a silver in-the-floor exercise. With all that in mind, Morgan had recently announced to come back to elite gymnastics in her bid to the Paris Olympics.

“This comeback is for me and because I love the sport,” Morgan had said referring to her comeback. Her vision behind it was challenging herself. “I’m someone who loves to push myself and challenge myself…I miss doing all the cool, difficult tricks I did before, I wanted to challenge myself by trying to see if I could get those routines back.” But at the same time, she also took it easy.

Explaining that, Morgan said, “If this doesn’t work out, I am totally okay with that. This is just a bonus at this point in my career, but if I didn’t try it, I think I would regret it. That’s the main reason.”  So in her bid, she took part in the British Championships in Liverpool in March.

Outstanding results in elite gymnastics after a long break

Amelie Morgan’s quest to compete for Great Britain in the summer Olympics in Paris was off to an incredible start. The talented gymnast from the University of Utah, a junior this year, excelled at the English Gymnastics Championships. This was just the first of many competitions she had to go through to qualify for Team Great Britain. On Saturday, Morgan faced a battle in her first senior top-level event since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. In an event with over eighty gymnasts, she ranked third in the all-around behind Ondine Achampong and Alice Kinsella.

Morgan finished with an all-around score of 52.950, comfortably the third-best score of the meet, ahead of Georgia-Mae Fenton, who finished in fourth place with a score of 52.250. In addition, Morgan scored the third-highest of all gymnasts on the balance beam and vault (13.100 on the beam and 13.750 on the vault), fourth-best on the floor exercise (12.750), and fifth-best on the uneven bars (13.350).

For the previous 3X years, Morgan had joined Utah’s gymnastics program and competed at the NCAA level, having opted not to participate in elite-level gymnastics after Tokyo. In the NCAA arena, she had some important realizations.

“NCAA has taught me to be a lot cleaner in my gymnastics. Sometimes, in elite, you’re just focused on packing as much difficulty as you can. It’s helped me focus on the small details, which I never really had time for before, to really refine those routines…It becomes about sticking every landing and showing really good form,” Morgan explained. It seems Morgan found herself more inclined to this, which eventually led her to choose NCAA over elite gymnastics.