Bryony Page gives interest in trampolining an Olympic bounce in Tokyo

That is because Bryony Page has won an Olympic medal for the second successive Olympic Games, adding a bronze in Tokyo yesterday morning to the silver she won in Rio five years ago.

Back then it would be easy to assume Page’s accomplishment was a one-off leap into the Olympic narrative, a quick uptake in interest before attentions turned to the track and field and before the football season returned.

But her feats yesterday in producing an even better performance according to her coach than she managed in Rio, despite the drop in place on the medal rostrum, suggests the sport of trampolining could be in for yet another boon in participation and one it is better placed to harness this time around.

“Trampolining across the region saw a massive increase five years ago,” begins Paul Greaves, Page’s coach and the head of the Sheffield Performance Trampoline Centre. Club websites went a bit crazy with enquiries. On one of the club pages there were 400 requests for information and the page crashed.

“That was two days after Rio, so we’re expecting similar this time as well with people wanting to get their kids involved and it’ll be great to see.”

Greaves and the team at their Sheffield headquarters at the Graves Health and Sports Centre are now more adequately prepared for the influx of budding trampolinists.

Construction on their purpose-built performance centre was already underway prior to the Rio Games and was completed shortly afterwards thanks to Page’s silver and the funding that secured from British Gymnastics.

“We wanted it to be a regional performance centre,” explains Greaves of a base that has quickly become a beacon for Yorkshire’s trampolining fraternity.

“There’s some good clubs in Yorkshire, and we are the largest region geographically, but had the smallest number in terms of trampoline activity. It was something we really wanted to grow.

“The great thing is that now there’s more clubs in Yorkshire, and more with full-time facilities, we’ve been able to put trampolining on the map in the region.

“Everyone is welcome to come and use it as training facility. We have clubs from Pocklington, from Hull, Leeds, Huddersfield – we have clubs coming from everywhere to train alongside us.

“We’ve had training camps where local kids have accessed the facility. Bryony is sometimes there and they get to see her train and it can be inspirational for the youngsters coming through.”

And that is the selling point to these awe-struck juniors, a real-life Olympian they can see in the flesh and bounce alongside.

“It just shows good things can happen for nice people,” says Greaves, who has been coaching Page since she moved from her home in Crewe to the Steel City in her late teens to study at the University of Sheffield.

“It doesn’t have to be cut-throat, it can be an enjoyable, positive experience, and she’s such a lovely positive athlete to work with.”

And even at the age of 30, older than every other competitor in that Olympic final in Tokyo, Greaves is confident Page can only get better.

“Bryony had the highest voluntary score in the prelims as well, so she knows she can go one or two places better now,” he says.

“We’re over the moon with the bronze medal. I’ve just spoken to her and she’s really happy, she’s got that self-belief now and wants to push for the world championships in Baku in November.

“She’s already talking about coming back to training – but that’s the type of athlete she is.

“She’s improved immensely this year and she’s still improving. She’s got bigger skills that she’s prepping in training, new skills that are ready to go into routines, higher jumping to come in competitions, she can still get another half a second higher in each routine. I’m hoping she’ll go for a world medal and then the European title next year.”

If she does, expect that Olympic bounce to be sustained.

“It’s such an accessible sport,” continues Greaves. “Anybody can do it, whether you’re a toddler, an adult. It can be fitness, fun, serious or competitive, that’s the great thing about it. It’s just not that widely known, so it’s great that we’re raising the profile and letting people learn how to fly.”