Becky Downie on the loss of her brother, Josh
Josh died from an undiagnosed heart condition called arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a genetic condition for which the rest of the family had to be tested.
“We didn’t know whether we had it or not, and if we did, then yeah, pretty much our (gymnastics) careers were game over,” Becky told us. “So it was definitely a really difficult thing to process on top of already horrific circumstance with the family.
“It’s a condition that could potentially develop later in life, so we’ve got to be tested forever now, but at the minute everyone is healthy, which is really positive.”
The family have since supported British Heart Day, which is held today, the 29 September, and have campaigned for awareness of CPR and defibrillators. Becky and Ellie have also become ambassadors for the British Heart Foundation, doing everything they can to stop other families from going through the same indescribable pain they continue to endure.
For herself, on receiving the physical all clear, Becky opted to take up the offer from British Gymnastics of a delayed trial for the Olympic Games in Japan.
Ultimately, contentiously, she was not selected, but looking back at that experience now, Becky is proud of herself.
“I worked too hard to not see it through,” said Becky, who had also been at the forefront of the call for change within the sport as part of the gymnast alliance movement. “I know Josh wouldn’t have wanted me to stop for that, for him being the reason.
“I don’t really know how I did it, to be honest. I think I’m quite good at just pushing things to the back of my mind and just carrying on.”
That mindset, honed over years of training that has provided epic moments such as world silver on bars in 2019, a first-ever world medal for Britain in the women’s team competition with bronze in 2015, plus European team gold in 2023 to add to her two-continental bars titles, enabled Becky to have the drive to come back to the sport for an attempt at making her third Olympic Games (having missed out on London 2012), at Paris 2024.
Overcoming a potentially career-ending Achilles’ tear in 2022, one of a number of major injuries and surgeries from which she’s returned, Becky competed at the Bercy Arena in France’s capital, making the bars final, and ultimately finishing seventh.
“After the challenges of the past few years, it’s changed my whole perspective on life,” wrote Becky post-Paris. “It magnified what was really important to me and that life really is too short. If you believe you can do something, don’t let anyone try to convince you that you can’t.”