Bryony Page interview: Trampoline world champion lays bare her ambition for Olympic fulfilment in Paris

But the 32-year-old Sheffield trampolinist is too wise, too experienced, to merely sit back and expect a comfortable, glorious narrative to unfold.

After more than a decade at the very sharp end of her sport, Page knows that even though she has recently regained her world title the work is only going to get harder and the focus that little bit sharper, if she is to achieve Olympic fulfilment in Paris.

“We can’t be content, we have to keep pushing,” she tells The Yorkshire Post, just two weeks after regaining her world title in Birmingham and also adding bronze medals in the synchronised and team events.

“I always want to strive for me and learn new things, not just in trampolining but about myself and how to perform under pressure.”

As any athlete knows, 10 years at the top comes with its fair share of peaks and troughs in performance and preparation.

Page missed out on London 2012 through injury and illness, went to Rio and won a silver, then struggled for a number of years with the expectation that brought before finding a new level coming out of the Covid pandemic with a bronze in Tokyo and two golds and a silver in the individual events at the last three annual world championships.

“I’ve found real value in the last few years in enjoying competing, which I lost a little after Rio because of the expectation I was putting on myself,” she explains.

Page is a deep thinker. A graduate of the University of Sheffield, she was the standard-bearer for that city’s trampolining club based at Graves Leisure Centre for more than a decade. The sport of trampolining still doesn’t get massive headlines even in an Olympic year, and for the last three cycles her success means she is the mouthpiece, and that interviews like this can be cathartic experiences.

“I feel healthier, fitter and stronger than I did when I was in my early 20s,” she says, when asked what has kept her at the height of trampolining for so long.

“I’m jumping smarter, I’ve learned how to recover, rest, and listen to my body. I can still jump higher and maintain that height throughout the routine.

“I do feel like I’m in a better position than I was in my early 20s. At lot of people have said to me when you get into your 30s it gets harder, but because I feel like I know my body and I know the sport, I can generally feel stronger because I’ve learnt how to train in a smarter way.

And mentally, Page remains as motivated as ever, even if that has fluctuated through the years.

“I have as much ambition as I did when I was younger, but it changed after Rio where I achieved more than I dreamed of,” explains Page, who has relocated to Poole on the south coast to train with her synchro partner Isabelle Songhurst and give herself a fresh challenge.

“I always have it in the back of my mind that I don’t want to have any regrets, or that I’ve not given it everything. So in 2016 when I finally became an Olympian, it took that negative motivator away, where I had wanted to keep going just so I didn’t feel regret.

“When that disappeared it was harder to find that drive, but now that I’ve got through that phase after Rio, I have it all back again.

“The motivator now is that I love the sport and I want to be better.

“So the thing that’s driving me now is a positive motivator, I no longer have that dread. If I decided tomorrow that I don’t enjoy it anymore or I’m ready to move onto the next stage, then I’d be happy with what I’ve achieved and who I am.

“That drives me forward to push myself and try new things and push the glass ceiling of women’s trampolining.

“They’re positive motivators - let’s see what I can become, let’s train harder, let’s train smarter, it’s a really nice feeling.”

These positive vibes served Page well in 2022. Although she lost her world title and finished second in the individual at the world championships; satisfaction came in winning gold in the all-around team event and another silver in the team.

“I’ve got such a lovely memory from that team competition," says Page, who was competing on a sprained foot that was not properly healed.

"We were performing under a different kind of pressure but all of us executed the routines we wanted, and to be able to celebrate together and feel like we all contributed, was special.

“Going into Paris I feel hungrier for that gold and also more confident that it’s achievable.

“If I can get my routine to the best place it can be in a competition, then no matter where it places me - if I’ve followed my values of having enough time for family and friends and still given 100 per cent - then that’s what I’m hungry for.

“If that’s making a third Olympics and just missing out on the final, or if it’s making the podium or the top step of the podium, then as long as I know I’ve given my all I can be proud of myself.”

‘There’s more to come from me’ – says Page

​Bryony Page has warned her rivals for Olympic gold that she has more to come at Paris 2024.

The former bronze and silver medallist won a second world title in three years in Birmingham earlier this month, but only after squeezing into the final in and up and down performance.

And she says the routine that won her gold was not even her best.

“The prelims at the world champs were my best routine, everything came together and I felt like I performed it to the best of my ability.

“I was happy I was able to perform my final routine to a good standard but deep down I was happy because I know there’s so much more to come.

“I need to refine that routine a little bit more."