GYM GIRLS LOCKER ROOM - Alice Kinsella (Olympic Gymnast) discusses Competing Against Simone Biles, Dealing with Immense Pressure and Finding Self-Confidence

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

S2EP4 - Welcoming ALICE KINSELLA (GB Olympic Gymnast) to the Gym Girls Locker Room!! It was so interesting talking to Alice following her return from the Paris Olympics 2024 where she represented Team GB and placed 12th in the women's all round final. We got the inside scoop on how a gymnast trains from her coaching to nutrition, the competitive environment and what Paris 2024 was REALLY like... Alice also spoke candidly about her journey with acne and how this has affected her confidence, how she manages pressure, the importance of looking after your body and dealing with injuries. We hope you enjoy and remember to tune in every Tuesday for a new episode. 💘 join the GGLR community: INSTA - https://www.instagram.com/gymgirlslockerroom/ FACEBOOK COMMUNITY PAGE - https://bit.ly/3TqhxDG TIKTOK - https://www.tiktok.com/@gymgirlslockerroom/ 📲 find Syd on socials: INSTA - https://www.instagram.com/sydgrows/ TIKTOK - https://www.tiktok.com/@sydgrows/ Want to work with Gym Girls Locker Room? Email us: [e-mail] GYMSHARK - 10% off code: SYDNEY10 ESN - 10% off code: SYDNEY

lovely to meet you how are you doing okay I just got back to training on Tuesday so that was my first session back since the Olympics which was it was good it was pretty tough but um no I wasn't too sore the next day so that's a good thing yeah how long has it been since the Olympics only like a few weeks or so right I think it'll be four weeks next week. Oh, wow. Right. So is that the longest break you've had in a while? Yeah. Yeah, it was much needed. Yeah. I think so. Like mentally, how were you physically after that? Is it taxing as well? Yeah, I was, I was definitely worse, closer to the Olympics Olympics but now I'm starting to get back to how I was before which is good so yeah at the top of every episode we love to ask people obviously

we mainly deal with like gym culture and fitness and that sort of thing so it's really exciting to have a gymnast with us we like to ask people just a little silly question at the start what is your split so kind of I want to ask you what's your split when you're like ramping up to like a big competition and then what is it when you're just like generally training um so say so I'll use the Olympics as the example um we did how I think it was five weeks prep camp so quite a long long time but at the start of those five weeks it would be pretty full-on like getting routines ready fitness ready and then we would do i think twice a week doing strength and conditioning and then towards the competition would start to die down a little bit and not do so much when we get to the actual village and the gyms in the village

um we wouldn't do any snc i'd say about a week and a bit before um just so we're not too tired for the competition days but in with gymnastics we don't really have out of season we just keep training and training and training but with um if we don't have any competitions we would just keep going and going just because if we have quite a bit of time off we do lose quite a lot of fitness so we just want to try and keep that up as much as we can yeah so okay oh so you yeah so you don't really do much of like say for example running where you're or like even lifting really where you're like building up to a peak and then you're really and like do you do you have to have deload weeks um so I'd say we do yeah but um we always we obviously have like a set goal that we like to try and reach um especially

on my with me leg press I want to try and get up to 400 kg I think my highest is 380 so so yeah we obviously do we do have set goals and then sometimes we do deload as well so yeah yeah and so when you say like your fitness like you really notice your fitness drop are you speaking like what does that mean to you like you know what I mean like are we talking yeah assume I'm a dummy assume the audience is as well because I'm sure there's a lot we don't know like yeah what do you mean by that like what are those first things that like go immediately um so we have a thing called routine fitness um and it's like a bar routine floor routine if if our fitness is low we really really struggle to try and get through the routine um so that's why we want to try and keep it up as high as possible because when we get back to doing

routines it's not so tough on the body um yeah it is going to be a little bit tough it always will be but we just don't want it to be too tough where we actually can't physically carry on and finish the routine off yeah and then like in terms of like time in the gym and like when you are training like how long are your daily sessions um so not so much anymore now that I'm a little bit older um I would do five days a week two double training sessions a week and the rest will be single it would be six hours if I'm doing a double um and four hours if I'm doing a single wow I'm actually me like yesterday like did a little double training session and I was like I was like being so dramatic I was like I'm done I'm actually done

I just feel so rough like it's insane so I'm interested in the part that you said now you're older obviously I feel like anyone that even knows like the slightest bit about maybe gymnastics or I don't know dance or these certain sports and like they have it feels like they've got quite a short window and I know like the talk of the town when the Olympics was on was like oh my god Simone's like so old obviously she's not old but like in the scheme of things for gymnastics how has that had like how has age been a factor that you've had to work around as you are getting older? Yeah, I'd say now that I've gotten older, it kind of has gotten a little bit easier. If you know what I mean, it's quite hard to explain. But going from junior to senior, which was 15 to 16, that was probably the toughest stage of my career because

obviously you go through puberty and that does affect gymnastics quite a lot but um I'd say with gymnastics I say gymnasts are going are doing gym for a lot longer now um I'd say like over 30 people are still doing gym for me um my goal is to go to LA I think I'll be 20 27 28 I'll be in LA um and then I think that might be my final one I won't try and go till when I'm 30 yeah yeah because what is it just everything's just your body feels it and you just everything's harder to execute yeah it takes a lot out of your body like I'm 23 now and um some days I really do struggle with my body and for me thinking past LA I'm just a bit like oh I don't know if I can I can that so were you saying that senior is 16 yeah so the last year of junior it's at 15 then you turn senior at 16 yeah crazy yeah I don't know if they are changing that I'm not too sure they

might be changing it what does that do to you like mentally or do you feel like you're pretty resilient with that kind of thing like does it give you like an existential crisis like oh my god I'm old when really in truth you're actually just like you're 23 you're such a baby still I feel like um I'd say it's weird because I'm the oldest in my gym by quite a bit uh my gym club but when we come to training camps with GB I there's quite a few of us that are similar to my age um but no it's weird it's hard to explain to people outside of gym to say that oh no I'm really old in gym but they're like no you're not you're only 23 but I'm like no in gym world I am quite old I've been 16 years old so it is yeah it's weird how do you feel about that um it is crazy because I started gym when I was three so I've been doing that yeah I've been doing it for 20 years now it's crazy

because I was watching things where you were saying like you saw it in school and like that sort of thing but by that point you were already actually doing it then yeah at nine years old I kind of knew that I would hopefully go quite far but I started doing internationals like going abroad I'd say 11 years old 11 12 yeah so quite young it's quite funny because I feel like like it's quite they say with Jurassic's like you've got to start young don't they really like I feel like that's quite common but I feel like in other like competitive sports a lot of like kids just lose the kind of spark for it and it's like they lose like the joy what's your experience been like with that having done it from well like since you can basically remember um like I said before I think with the change of puberty that is when majority of people

um give up or can't just do it anymore because that was a really really tough stage for me like I think that there was obviously a couple times where I was like oh I can't do it anymore like I'm probably gonna have to give up and then all the friends all my friends I used to train with were um leaving gym as well so that was pretty tough as well because then I didn't really have anyone to train with but um for me I kind of like the challenge and I like pushing myself to my limit and I think if I didn't have that stage I wouldn't be the person I am today so I think it's done me kind of good yes it was tough at the time but I think it was worth it I'd say yeah yeah it must be it must have taught you so much like we often talk about discipline and like motivation and all those sorts of things but like for you that's been like that

must have been that amplified like to the max because I feel like your teenage years is when you're like you know so concerned with what everyone else is doing and you don't want to stand out but you kind of like and all these sorts of things so to really actually just keep your blinkers on and be like no I'm gonna keep keep it going has your like love for it like ebbed and flowed and where do you feel like you're with the sport now like I'd say one stage I was really really close to retiring um last year I 2022 I suffered with really bad acne and I got told to go on the pill. And we all know what the pill does to you and your body.

It got to the point where I had really, really bad anxiety and depression. And when it came to gym, I was scared to do some things and wouldn't go for the majority of my gymnastic skills, even ones I've been doing since I was 10, 11 years old. And it just got to the point where I wasn't enjoying it and I lost the love for the sport that I was really really close to retiring until I spoke to my coaches spoke to my mom and boyfriend and I just we just thought that it would be best to come off the pill and then about the end of 2023 is when I started to feel normal again with Jim and started to love it again and yeah that I'd say that was

probably yes puberty was hard but that was probably the toughest part of my career um but again I feel like it's good to have moments like that because then it's another challenge you push through and without that again I am I wouldn't obviously be the person I am today so yeah yeah and it's another challenge you push through and without that again I am I wouldn't obviously be the person I am today so yeah yeah and it's and it's wild that like that was literally like a year that was your mindset like a year ago and then you just have this like sensational year and we often talk about like you just don't know what's around the corner just like hang in there you know because you just don't know what wheels are in motion or you know what's what's around the corner just like hang in there you know because you just don't know what wheels are in motion or you know what's what's coming for you like yeah I I've been the same I've been on a

um skincare journey which I suppose these lot already know they know I talk about it enough but it's so crappy it's so shit like it really as a woman I think well for anyone as a human but as a woman it really really just like tears apart your self-esteem and your confidence and you know for me as a creator I'm on camera a lot and for you you know with gymnastics and performance there's perfection and it's just really hard so I really empathize with you how how are you now with your skin and what did you decide after abandoning the pill yeah so I came off the pill um and then it was fine for six months because obviously it was still kind of in my system and then after that is when it started to come back I've still got acne now um

it is still pretty it's not terrible but it's not great um but at the moment I'm where I'm doing like uh I'm with Fiji it's like a clinic near me who's who's helped me quite a lot um but like you said it is tough because we are kind of on camera quite a lot and with me being at the Olympics being on television and all of that it's just hard but then again I'm like I'm kind of glad because I am helping others and young people come up because we obviously aren't alone there's quite a few people who have acne and I'm just happy to be here to help um people out yeah absolutely like the more we speak about it because it is so real and like yeah so much even if you know people don't physically use filters and stuff now

we see people always just show the best parts and show in the most flattering lighting and that sort of stuff so yeah I think it definitely helps it's crazy like that isn't even something that I would well maybe you guys didn't even factor in like going on to hormonal like taking hormonal pills and how that could like affect your performance was that something you had really fathomed before taking it or um we obviously read the side effects and yes it did say anxiety and depression but I didn't think it would get to the point it did I kind of thought like yeah it's only a tiny pill I'm sure it won't get terrible like I'll be able to fight through it and it literally got to the point where I just couldn't do it anymore like I'd be in the gym I'd literally cry every day in the gym and my coach would be like what is wrong but at the start of

it I couldn't tell anyone about it because I'm the kind of person that doesn't really like to make a big deal out of something so I tried to keep it to myself for as long as I can um but people could really see that I was struggling so I kind of just had to bite the bullet and talk to people and that is probably the best thing that I've ever done is talk to someone about it because we all came up with a decision to come off and just try and see if we can naturally heal it. And did your anxiety, like, subside quite quickly, and then did you find that your performance went back to kind of what it was, or was it a journey back to...? It was definitely a journey.

I had the European Championships as well, and, again, I couldn't go for a few things. And before I would do some certain skills, I was just a bit like, what if this happens? What if I get injured? What if I don't go for it properly? What if I pull out? It's just all these things in my head. And that's just what's building up my anxiety.

But I think with gymnastics you do kind of get anxiety because it's just such a dangerous sport but with last year it was just it was just too much and I would say we had well at the end of the year and after that I would say it just started to feel more normal again so yeah it was definitely a journey yeah like the dust settled I want to go I do I do want to talk about nerves and how you mentally do that but I think it makes sense to me to just finish with this topic um and ask you I'd love to know about like um a little bit more to do with like your not not specifically your cycle but you know women and you guys training and how does your firstly like how does your cycle impact your training

and then secondly like are your team good at like accommodating sort of things like that and yeah like how does all of that sort of thing work um so with me and my coaches I have like a really really good relationship with them I've been coached by them since I was six seven years old so I'm able to just tell them whatever is on my chest or what's like yeah so what was it whatever is on my chest and sometimes when I'm feeling super tired or I can't really do certain stuff I just say to them look it's my time of the month and this is why I'm struggling and then we all come together and make a decision on whether we need to change my program or try and stick to it as much as I can but in that sense they are really really good but with uh puberty with like periods

and stuff it does affect gym quite a lot like I before the Olympics I had a new vault that I really wanted to compete um but when I got out into Paris it started to go it was almost my time of the month I was due on so it was really really affecting me um and me personally I get more affected on the due on stage than being on my period um so when it came to competing I did try it out in the back gym and it just wasn't it just weren't feeling right and I really didn't want to risk myself getting injured so yeah it does it does affect you and obviously for me I always feel heavier so everything just just feels harder so yeah it is not nice to try and train let alone compete being on your period yeah and I'm also like what do you wear when you're on your period

do you still wear like leotards and bits and pieces like do you know when you just feel so self-punctuous and you're just like ah I feel gross like what do you do yeah um so we just have to still wear what we have what we get told to so leotards and just hope for the best nothing comes out yeah it's it's so it's tough because it is like you know periods I love I don't know in your sort of world as well but certainly within like the fitness space everyone's you know been talking a lot about like cycles and so I try to always bring it in because um I think now we're at a point where people are a lot more educated on it and they're like oh I'm in my neutral phase or whatever but and understanding that like these are actually like physiological changes let's give ourselves some credit like you know

no wonder you're feeling like this or you're not maybe doing as well or whatever I was watching a video and you were talking something like the interviewer had like grabbed you I think post competition or something and she was like oh everybody heard the screams and I just thought we should talk about it because I thought it was so funny is this a thing you do at all your competitions or so we did it quite a lot in 2022 um yeah so explain it for the listeners who don't know what I what the hell I'm talking about which they probably don't. So before we head out to compete, we like to do, like, a massive scream. Yeah, I don't know what. But I do actually know why.

Because it does actually help. When we're quite nervous, it does actually really help with that. But then we do get other teams, like, just staring at us and, like like looking like what on earth are you guys doing but I love it because they're not really good at English so yeah we just gotta just deal with the stairs and sometimes we do it quite a few times but yeah I would recommend screaming if you're nervous. Sc scream therapy yeah it is a thing where do you do it like actually in front of them so pretty much yeah so like before we walk out we're all in like a line

so it would be Great Britain Germany and then we just scream but oh that's so iconic I love it you guys need to share that on socials I think everyone will go mental that's so funny I was gonna ask you about like nerves and stuff like what's your relationship like with your nerves because you've been doing it for a long time so um I'd like to say it gets easier but it definitely doesn't um I was obviously a lot worse when I was younger it would be it would get to the point where I would feel physically sick and but now I'd say it definitely is more enjoyment than nerves well it depends on what competition really whereas team final at the Olympics when I had to be last up on beam, I was honestly the most nervous I've ever been. Like I thought I was generally going to be sixth on the beam.

I know, finishing on beam is like horrible. But I literally said the day before, I was like, watch it be me having to end on beam and having to do the best routine of my life to try and get us a medal. And it literally did end up being that. And I'm like, oh. But after I landed, it just felt like such a relief that I did it for the team. So, yeah. Unreal.

Honestly, I just could not be me. Could not be me. I'm like, okay, Sid, what Sid what can you like what can I possibly compare it to that like maybe I would have felt literally doesn't even compare to the bloody Olympics but like I what I like to tell people I always encourage people like if you're interested in competing I think there is something like really powerful about having all of these like nerves um because when I did a powerlifting competition I had all these nerves a step onto the platform and then there was something like really almost like I don't know magical about like having all like head to toe nerves and then like explode doing this like explosive movement and feeling like you completely channeled it

is that the case with you guys or like do you do you feel you're able to channel it or not um I to be honest nerves is a good thing and a bad thing obviously the bad thing is it makes you feel sick like you feel like you're gonna need the toilet every five minutes but uh the good thing is the adrenaline it gives you that really good adrenaline rush i think and with gymnastics it's good it's mostly good for vault and floor because obviously they're powerful pieces they're good for when you have that adrenaline rush whereas for bars and beam you kind of need to stay calm and just let your body do your thing so that is when I struggle most with my nerves um but sometimes it does get the better of you but it is a good thing and it is a bad thing yeah no totally so like you're getting

you're like waiting you've got like you know you found out you're the last one to go and you're like great okay and then I think that in anticipation I can imagine is what really like sends you you know like really having to like wait it out what are the like exercises you have or like little bits and pieces you do to just try and like stay focused center yourself have you built up some sort of like little exercises rituals yeah so I have a psych which um sometimes helps me with these things and for me the best thing I do is focus on my breathing so I like to maybe it can be different it can be maybe four breaths in and

eight breaths out it just kind of really helps me and also trying to not think about the routine you're going to do just think about something random something just to take your mind I know it's a lot it is hard to do but I would say that is the best way for me personally but I think if you do struggle with nerves I would definitely try and give that a go especially the breathing exercises. Yeah it's interesting you say like to not think about the routine because I guess is it that like at that point you've done the work you're like the most ready you can be really just like let that drift to the sidelines yeah it's like i've

been doing it for so long now that my body knows what it needs to do so i don't really want to overthink much about um my routines because i just feel like it's just gonna make it a lot worse i even tell my coach like before i go up I don't want you to say much to me just say come on you've got this that's literally all I need to hear like I don't want I don't want him like putting loads of things in my mind for me to then stress about and I'm already trying to not think about it so it would just be better for him to just tell me just the most simple things and yeah he literally does that every single time so yeah can you remember your first competition I can remember one of them um it was to be honest I think my first one when I was when I was like

six or maybe maybe five and I wasn't really that nervous then I don't think I was only little I was only getting sort of fun just messing around but I'd say my biggest first prompt was made when I was nine years old and I actually did become um national champion at that on which was which was pretty fun um but no I would say I was pretty nervous then I think it's because I had to finish I had to finish on vault and I had to land my vault for me to win and I never actually I didn't train it that much like I always fell and it was pretty much one of the first times I landed it was in the competition so I'll take it I love that so yeah you got into who got you into gymnastics was your parent did they just start so my sister used to do gym when I was younger so I kind of

just wanted to copy her and my dad and brother were actually well my dad was a professional footballer and my brother is now a professional footballer so we've got quite a sporty family my sister doesn't do gym anymore but yeah she used to I remembered what I was gonna say actually I was gonna say to you was it was it apparent from the start that like you were gonna go far was that something that like is quite clearing like your memory of things growing up um I think everyone that I kind of know like my mom my coaches they always they've always said that when I was younger they kind of saw the talent in me and that I was going to go pretty far so yeah I guess since I would say from nine is when I kind of thought yeah okay I think I do have potential to go quite far but I didn't think I would be be going to the Olympics well obviously it was a dream of mine but I didn't think I would

be no but I think you did I think you did really no I think you did I've watched I watched like interviews from like years ago and like you're like I feel like you do you knew like I don't know I just I see it I don't I probably did I probably did think oh maybe you know I might actually go but then half of me would be like no don't don't be so don't be so confident like let's just chill out chill out for a bit um but my biggest obviously my biggest goal was to come away with the medal and in Tokyo that is what I achieved and yeah it's pretty crazy that I definitely didn't think that would happen is getting the Olympic medal I definitely would say that really yeah yeah unreal up until what point did you not think that was like even going into the Olympics you didn't think?

Obviously, yeah, obviously we, in Tokyo, we qualified in, I think it was sixth. I think we qualified in sixth. And we kind of just wanted to go out there and just get the experience of our first team final at the olympic games and just enjoy every second of it um but when we got to when we finished roll and we only had bars left i kind of looked up at the uh screen at the top and i was like okay we actually might have a shot of getting a medal here um we kind of have to do the best bar i teams of our life i didn't want to tell the rest of the girls because I knew that it would kind of maybe stress them out a little bit and we actually did go and really smash bars and when um landed we kind of all knew oh we might actually get it but we just wanted to wait until we saw it up at the uh the screen but no it was honestly such a surreal moment it was it was crazy yeah do you prefer like individual or team the team events what's

your preference um I'd say team is more nerve-wracking because you're not only doing it for yourself you have to do it for the rest of the girls whereas individual yes it can be quite nerve-wracking but it's more I feel like you can enjoy it a bit more than. Yeah, that makes sense. And also you're like, I feel like if you're, if it's individual, you're like, okay, if I screw up, that's on me. Yeah, it's just me. Yeah, definitely. How is like girlhood and all that sort of thing in gymnastics?

I don't know why, like in my head, I don't know. I don't even know like in my head I don't know I don't even know why I think this in my head I'm like oh no gymnastics is like scary and like it gives me like scary bitchy vibes but I totally like did not get that from watching the olympics I I'll put my hands up I didn't but like yeah how is it do you is there a lot of like camaraderie and girlhood and no no it's really really good I'd say us girls at the Olympics we had quite we had a really really good bond and it got to the point because we were together for so long you got to the point that we could literally tell

each other anything and if something would annoy us we'd tell them and yeah it just got to the point where we could just be ourselves around all of them and uh we obviously had to share an apartment which was nice and yeah it was it was really good I'd say we made some really really good memories in Paris so so again me being a dummy here so those girls you're not you don't train with them on a daily or do you no that's just like what is the process are they like so there's like obviously selection and then is it just like see ya go and enjoy and then what was your first encounter sort of with those girls as a team and yeah um so this year the team that went to Paris is was the same team that went to the Europeans earlier on in the year um and then we would spend a couple weeks before Europeans

together and then after Europeans we would go to our own gym for quite a while um and then I'd say we had about five weeks five weeks prep time which we would spend all together and then when we when we were away in Paris we were together for three weeks so quite a while and then yeah we're back at our own gyms so oh wow spent quite a bit of time together I can imagine you yeah super close yeah um and how is it against your competitors I think I do remember actually hearing I'm sure another gymnast was talking about how like everyone is rooting for each other like is that the case yeah definitely um especially in all-around final the group that I was in we was we finished on beam and the top group was on floor and it was really really fun because

obviously when you're competing at the same time as the best ones are competing sometimes you normally miss out on watching their routines but we managed to watch them all which was nice and we were just all cheering every single person on and it was just nice to see like I think back in the day that never really really happened um so it's just nice to see that the gymnastics world is starting to get quite like that. Yeah, it seems like gymnastics has, I was actually watching, like, I was, like, nerding out. This was, like, post-Olympics. I was, like, right, see the vision. I am not, like, hugely into gymnastics.

I'm watching it, like, on the deck chairs in the middle of Manchester with a big screen. Dude, I like, I have ADHD anyway, but I hyper fixated. And then the next time I watched the finals, my friends were like,

Sid, why are you like an encyclopedia of all this gymnastics stuff? But I was watching when I was doing my deep dive, when I like hyper fixated, I was watching this I was doing my deep dive um when I like hyper fixated I was watching this like YouTube video and they were talking about like how different the sport is and like how much it's changed and how like you guys are like full on like powerhouse powerhouse like athletes like back then it was so different like the routines and like the equipment and like it's crazy like

it's changed so much has that even been since you've been doing that like are you feeling it like change even you know definitely yeah yeah definitely it's changed a lot I'd say um but with equipment wise it's not changed I was I've always been on the same equipment um it could just be different mates but it will always be the same width the same length and the same size so that doesn't change it just changes mate the mate just changes um but like we were saying whereas we all like we've all been cheering for each other like even different nations different countries it's just all been it's just I think it's just so much nicer being able to go and just knowing that everyone is rooting for you which is yeah it's lovely I think

it creates a really special atmosphere and it's also like you know just because you are competitors doesn't mean you have to be like super competitive against each other in a way that like belittles or yeah because I know like I don't know if you've been watching the um athletics like sprint I think it was called or something on Netflix like they pay they do like mental like, they do, like, mental games with each other. Oh, really? It seems like it's, yeah, it seems like they're very, like, the whole thing, like, the whole build-up is, like, trying to get into their competitors' heads, whereas it seems like Nasix is, like, really lovely. Yeah, yeah, no, nothing like that.

I wouldn't even know when to start trying to get into their heads. No, literally. Yeah, the scream is to intimidate them actually I mean yeah that's very good scream I know like yeah we spoke earlier about you being like one of the quote unquote older girls

and that you like you older girls will like take the younger ones under your lead and you'll just like make sure like no one's getting like you'll just keep you know hold down the thought what is that about and is that like something that's always been a thing that you do kind of like nurture the like new talent and show them the ways so in Tokyo I was actually the oldest one there and I was only 20 years old um which was crazy to think so I kind of that was that was weird for me um because that was the first time I was in like the oldest and trying to be a good team leader I kind of didn't really know what to do or how to act

but this time around um and with me me already gone to an Olympic Games, I was kind of there to support the younger ones and just make sure that, yes, it's an Olympic Games and, yes, it's a big competition, but just try and see it as just the normal competition that you've competed at before, like Europeans, Worlds, because you've done so many of those. Yeah, I just want to try and make sure that they feel like it's just... competed that before like europeans worlds and because you've done so many of those and yeah i

just want to try and make sure that they feel like it's just like i'm always there to help them and if they need any advice that i am here and i can give them the advice that they need and yeah it's just it was just nice knowing that they were able to just look up to me and just ask me anything which was yeah really nice oh this is like such a random side note but like you're an angel numbers girlie aren't you yeah you've got what is it you've got or have you got four I've got four four four um seven seven seven yeah do you feel like you because I'm like so the same when I went on like I really had like a low point um a couple of years ago and I just like I know it sounds woo woo I know it sounds crazy but like

I really feel guided by like twos and I like I saw you talking about this and I was like I need to talk to her about that is that just something that like you do feel like you get signs or so with my rough patch last year with my the pill and my anxiety and depression I got 777 because of that um it kind of it's like someone watching over you and telling you that you are strong enough and you can get through obstacles and challenges and yeah so that's why I kind of got 777. And I feel like it is, I feel like it's helping for me personally. It's definitely helped since then anyway.

And 444, I kind of got it for luck, but I've kind of wanted to change the reason for my 444 because I, this past cycle since Tokyo, I have came fourth place so many times that this might have to be my new reason for the 444 tattoo. Oh my God. That's like, yeah. Okay.

Love that. Also dope. Can we change this for one? Yeah, that's like, yeah, okay. Love that ball zone type. Can we change this for one? Yeah, that's funny. How big is your team? Do you have, at your level, elite gymnasts? Do you have nutritionists and physio and da-da-da-da-da? What's the extent of producing a performance like you can give?

Yeah, so it's pretty big we have all of those things physios nutritionists we also have a another psych at uh british gymnastics but i have my own psych as well um i have two coaches but i also have a few others that obviously have their own groups and i'm not their gymnast but when my coaches are away I can get coached by them um we have obviously national coach we don't have one at the moment but I think we're getting a new one soon um sometimes we can get a sports massage every week when it's prep camp so yeah it's pretty big and I think without all of those people's help um I don't think I'd be calling myself a two-time Olympian and obviously we have

our friends and family I have my mum my boyfriend my brother my sister just every single person um so it's pretty pretty big team I'd say yeah definitely and that like everyone serves a purpose and like has a part to play and I think that's why like I can imagine it is such an emotional thing because it's like so much goes into it like just more than I'm sure any of us can even comprehend like yeah it must be wild what's your um what's like your diet and nutrition like and have you ever struggled with like your relationship with food or do you see it as fuel for like what it is um I wouldn't say now that I'm a bit older um I wouldn't say I'm so strict on my diet anymore I used to be well I had to be quite strict with my diet when I was

going through puberty because it did really change my body um but I wouldn't say I was one for being really strict on my food and like I can't have this you can't have that like nothing like that happened for me and um but now I'm just pretty chilled with yeah so do you eat quite like intuitively or I didn't know if like you know you had to be really I didn't know if you had like your team being like oh you know you need to hit these macros and is that even something you feel like you're sort of educated on that's like a gymnast or um maybe when we was a bit younger um obviously like the early ages of senior um but now not really I'd say that I wouldn't say strict but I kind of look at my diet more running up to competitions because obviously you want to be at

your healthiest and fittest and yeah you want to try and eat as good as you can around that time but right now um I'm pretty like I'm not really I don't really have a diet I'm just going with the flow and whatever I fancy I have so I love that yeah I love that that just feels really refreshing for me to hear like that you're just like an athlete that's just like vibing do you take supplements or like yeah do you take supplements um yeah we do I haven't um since I've been back from the Olympics but i did running up to paris um i did take vitamins and all of that stuff but not anymore yeah um and then like what's what's your kind of i know you mentioned like massages and stuff like what's recovery like for you and what are those things that you're like

these are my holy grail like recovery staples so I'm sponsored by a massage company which is the best thing ever so I running up to Paris I had a massage twice a week every Wednesday and Saturday which was lovely but then we could also get a massage done by the physio the GB physio which was good so I'd probably add another one in to make it free well and then yeah like do you do you have anything else like um how's your sleep and you're stretching and like what is there I'm kind of getting the vibe that you're just like actually no I'm just this good because I train hard and I just enjoy life but I just didn't know like I don't know do you have to because I speak I tell you what because I speak

to some people and they're like no I like have to make sure I'm doing like nothing in between like my training sessions and I'm really focusing on diet and recovery sure I'm doing like nothing in between like my training sessions and I'm really focusing on diet recovery and I'm doing this and this and that but I'm kind of getting the vibe that you're just vibing yeah I do kind of just vibe I'm just like if one day I'm feeling super tired I won't really do anything but I'm not one for kind of just sitting around doing nothing I like to because obviously gymnastics it does take the majority of my life like yeah um I'm training pretty much every day so when I get a day of being able to go out and spend time with friends and family I will do that um especially now that I'm a bit older when I was younger I kind of just wanted to stay in um but now I'm like I'm getting to that part of my career where

it's not all about gym like I've got a life outside of gym I'm gonna do the things that I can do um so yeah we in gymnastics we do stretch before and after gym but I like to make sure that I've done that is one thing that I like to make sure that I've definitely done a stretch but when I get home I'm yeah I'll just do whatever I want to do if people are doing something I'll go and do some stuff with them so I know you injured your elbow how like do you get injured much um at this point in your like career and how is that going for you right now um I would say my elbow injury was it was a weird one it looked a lot worse than actually felt um I didn't do I didn't do anything to it it was just bruising and swelling um but it was it was weird because I just fell off the bar and banged my elbow somewhere um I still to this day don't actually know what happened

but I was able to carry on for a bit and then before I went out to compete I just looked down and it looked like the size of a tennis ball and we all came together and just said right no the best decision is to pull out with it being such a big year ahead um but my main injury I would have to say would be my ankle in Tokyo I rolled my ankle the first day being in Tokyo I did in fact tear two ligaments which I didn't realize and I did compete on them um it was my my decision to compete because you know the Olympic Games it might be my only opportunity um when I got back is when I realized that I'd torn two ligaments and then obviously because I competed on them I had scar tissue so I was out for a good couple months for that so I feel like um you know I know they say like with ligaments and tendons as

well like they're such long recovery like they just they take so long like yeah do you just wait it out is that is it like no training when you've got something like that? I'd obviously be able to do bars because I don't really use my ankle for bars. Of course. But we get given rehab, which we would have to do every day, maybe even twice to three times a day.

But yeah, I think it was just kind of nice to have that bit of a break. I was obviously still going to gym and doing a little bit, but it was just nice to obviously not do as much because obviously Tokyo, it was a hectic,ctic time of doing a lot so yeah definitely what would you say are some absolute highlights and some really tragic lowlights of your career so far um obviously I'd have to say my biggest highlight would one of my biggest highlights is the Olympic medal in Tokyo but um my lows at that competition was obviously COVID not having friends and family

out there um I wasn't able to have my coach out there with me so at some points in Tokyo I felt very alone um which wasn't nice because obviously it was my first Olympic Games and I didn't really want to be feeding like that but then another high for me was when this year's Olympics in Paris after the first day of competition on my last piece my coach said to me that whatever the outcome I'm just happy that I was able to finally share the floor with you for an Olympic Games because obviously you didn't come to Tokyo so it was that was one of my highs just being able to be at the Olympics with my coach finally um and obviously having my mum and boyfriend out there as well is probably another high for me yeah did you did you like spot them out in the crowd yeah I spotted them straight away

yeah do your do your friends and family do they come have well throughout your career have they been like at a lot of your competitions or um so we have a competition which is the british championships um and majority of my family do come to that competition because it is quite a good competition to watch there it's in liverpool and it is nice to watch um not for me to do it's probably one of the nerve-wracking um competitions to do because it's either it's always a trial for something so yeah that's why it's pretty nerve-wracking um but international ones it would normally just be my mom and boyfriend that come out and watch because it can be pretty expensive for gym competition so yeah I I can't even like yeah fathom how that experience must have been and what a shame it must be for the people that competed

in covid and just like the fact that some people will never be able to go again that was their one chance and it was yeah experience like that like did what were the two I mean you've done two now so like what's the comparison is it vastly different I mean especially as like a gymnast I know like um Simone Biles was saying she was just like so thrown off as well by like not having audience and yeah impact that actually makes on your performance um obviously Tokyo was great because we did come away with an Olympic medal um But the experience, I just, it wasn't my favourite. It didn't feel like an Olympic Games. It was really weird.

Like, it wasn't a good vibe there. But with Paris, I just had the best experience. Like, I enjoyed my time out there. The fact that I was able to finally have my coach, my mum and boyfriend out there, just making some of the best experience. Like, I enjoyed my time out there. The fact that I was able to finally have my coach, my mum and boyfriend out there, just making some of the best memories. So they are, yes, they are very different. But, yeah, I'd say Paris would have been better

just because it didn't have COVID and it felt like an actual proper Olympic Games and the experience I had was just one in a lifetime and yeah it's something that I will never ever forget so yeah do you did you have like did you give yourself a moment like throughout that experience at parish just to like think about young you and think about like all these hours and years of training and just to like really just did you allow yourself to let it sort of sink in and think like damn I actually really just I really did this like

yeah definitely I think I was thinking about it after all-round final when I just finished I was like the fact that I became an Olympian Tokyo is crazy but the fact that I became an Olympian in Tokyo is crazy. But the fact that I can now call myself a two-time Olympian is just so surreal. I really didn't think that I would be going to two Olympics. So, yeah, there was a couple of moments where I'm just a bit like, wow, I'm really here. Like, it's not a dream. Like, it's actually happening. And, yeah, it was crazy. was crazy yeah no it is unreal um I wanted to ask you this earlier but I just

like remembered it now would you say like in your opinion having done it for so long like would you say that like anyone could be a gymnast that is like throwing themselves around or do you think a lot of it is actually just like your genetics and your like nature um no I think I think anyone can do it I think you just have to have the right mindset to to become a gymnast and I think you've just got to accept that you will miss out on a few opportunities when you're younger and it is a dangerous sport and you kind of like I said accept that you are maybe going to get injured or get hurt like it's it is that sport at the end of the day but I honestly wouldn't change anything for the world of when I was younger and going through all of that like yes there's tough parts but I think there's just tough parts in in in the world anyway not even in gymnastics like any of

the sports outside of sports there's just always moments where it can be pretty tough and I think if you put yourself in the right mindset you can become anything you want to be so yeah absolutely wow um well I've got one final question to finish on you're gonna laugh um did you try the famous Olympic Village chocolate muffins I didn't know you didn't, no. You didn't? Oh my gosh. No, you didn't. No. You don't. Oh my gosh. I didn't try the muffin, but the best thing for me was the bacon. Honestly.

Oh. How so? The bacon was so good. I can't even explain to you how good it was. Like, forget about the chocolate muffin. The bacon, oh, it was just terrible. Like, are we talking the cut about the chocolate muffin the bacon oh it was like are we talking the cut the taste the way they cooked it like the texture just everything like it was the thin it was the thin bacon it was like crispy it was oh it was just like as soon as I got back

home I was like I'm actually really missing the bacon it's actually crazy like oh no I I had to I had to add that in because our one of the girls that works on our team she was like obsessed with it so I was chuckling to myself when I was looking through these notes and I was like right I'm gonna have to ask them a question we've covered a lot um well this has been like such a lovely conversation thank you so much for coming thank. No, thank you for having me. It was really nice. Where can people find you? On socials.

Okay. It's like, I'm so used to talking into contact. You're like, please don't find me. I don't want to be found. I may use Instagram and TikTok. Instagram is Kinsella 17 yes and TikTok is just Alice underscore Kinsella amazing beautiful well thank you so much I think you're incredibly inspiring and I love listening so I know the girls are gonna definitely take away something even if they're not on their gymnastics journey I'm sure they would would have loved to listen anyway um yeah thank you so much