Advertise on podcast: The Game of Gymnastics

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell shares a short personal update. Following his recent move to Nottingham and a wider shake up of his routine, he has decided to pause the podcast until at least the start of next year, with no promises on whether or when it will return. A brief but heartfelt thank you to everyone who has listened, watched, messaged, and supported along the way. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Winston has recently moved to Nottingham and is using the change as a chance to reset his routine across the board. The podcast had started to feel like something he had to do rather than something he wanted to do, and motivation for it has been dropping recently. The show is being paused until at least the start of next year, with no fixed date for a return. Winston is grateful for every message, comment, and in person conversation about the podcast, and credits that support for keeping the show going as long as it has. BEST MOMENTS: "It's been fun, but has turned more into something that I feel like I have to do and not something I want to do." "It always surprises me when someone comes up in person and says, I really enjoyed the last episode." "Something had to change." "Thank you to everyone for listening and watching. I appreciate all the support for the podcast so much." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with Lewis Gosling, the only British male DMT athlete to win a World gold medal, plus double World bronze medalist and 2022 European individual silver medalist. Lewis walks through his journey from watching Beijing 2008 as a five year old, to picking DMT over artistic in 2016, to becoming one of GB's most decorated DMT athletes despite a run of major injuries doctors said would end his career. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Lewis started gymnastics in 2008 after watching Beijing on TV and just wanting to learn a backflip as a football celebration. He and teammate Omo both went from their first ever DMT competition to a World Age Group Championships within five contests, an unusually fast rise. His 2022 European silver came off the back of a stress fracture through most of his pelvis, with only around two and a half weeks of DMT training to prep. Winning World Team gold at the 2022 all around final made Lewis the only British male DMT athlete ever to win a World title, even if he personally felt he underperformed on the day. Birmingham 2023 Worlds delivered two team bronze medals in front of a home crowd, a competition Lewis rates as one of his favourites of his career. A dislocated ankle, seven ruptured ligaments, and a Lisfranc injury in 2024 could have ended his career. Nine months out later, his body healed in ways doctors could not explain, hence the medical mystery. Lewis approaches team finals as a completely different competitor to individual finals, more locked in and closed off in team, more relaxed and enjoyment led in individual. Bigger picture, DMT is growing but still needs better visibility, better broadcast quality, and free access to live streams if it is to reach the audience it deserves. BEST MOMENTS: "You may have these massive skills, but if you can't do it in competition, then it sucks for you." "I could never quit on an injury, I'm too stubborn." "I stood at the end of the run up and I was like, I know I'm about to go get a European medal." "Team final Lewis can be quite scary, don't come near him. Final Lewis is just here to have fun." "You can do anything that you want to achieve." "If you don't love the sport, what's the point in doing it?" LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell shares one of the biggest changes of his gymnastics life so far: after 13 years at City of Birmingham Gymnastics Club, he has moved to Notts Gymnastics Academy. Winston walks through what triggered the decision, how he weighed Notts against Leeds, the emotional and practical realities of leaving the club he grew up in, and why a new routine, a new gym, and a new city might be exactly the reset he needed. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Winston's coach Luke Folwell has been offered a national coach role for British Gymnastics, meaning he can no longer act as a personal coach, and prompting the move. Nearly all of the Birmingham lads are expected to move on too, with Winston expecting most to join him at Notts. The two realistic options were Notts and Leeds. Winston travelled up to Leeds to train and was genuinely impressed, but the familiarity of Notts and prior relationships with the coaches tipped the balance. Notts offers a much more consistent daily routine, with regular training times, allowing energy, sleep, and recovery to sit in a more predictable rhythm. Winston is using the shift as a chance to build structure into the rest of his life, including a self-study AAT accounting course and potential coaching work at Notts. The Spaceship You principle applies to elite sport too: dedicating specific spaces to specific tasks, work, sleep, recreation, makes each of them significantly easier. Under all the logistics, there is a bigger question: do you back yourself enough to make a move like this worth it? Winston's honest answer is I don't know yet, and that's OK. Winston's mantra for this next phase: put yourself in the best possible position to succeed, because nothing is guaranteed. Train like you've never won and compete like you've never lost. BEST MOMENTS: "That is how long I've trained at the City of Birmingham Gymnastics Club. That is how long I've lived in Birmingham." "Sometimes I need a little push, and this happening is that push." "You've got to train like you've never won, and you've got to compete like you've never lost." "Just because you're not there at the moment doesn't mean you can't get there." "Luck is labour under correct knowledge." "All you can do is give yourself the best possible chance of success." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with Kristian Thomas, double Olympian, 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist, 2013 World Vault bronze medalist, and 2015 European floor champion. Kristian walks through his full journey in gymnastics, from following his older brother into the sport at age five, to winning Britain's first men's Olympic team medal in 71 years on home soil, to becoming the first British male gymnast to medal on vault at the World Championships. He also opens up about the tough side of Rio 2016, his transition out of the sport, and where he thinks gymnastics goes next. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Kristian got into gymnastics at five by following his older brother, who left the sport by around 10 years old. Without that first step, Kristian's own career might never have happened. His first senior international was the 2006 Commonwealth Games at 17, where a team bronze on the other side of the world became the moment he realised the Olympics was actually within reach. Watching Lewis Smith and Dan Keatings succeed in Beijing 2008 gave the whole squad a huge confidence boost heading into the London cycle. Britain's failure to qualify at the 2011 Worlds became the wake-up call that led to European team gold, a strong London 2012 test event, and eventually the historic team bronze at the Olympics. The World Vault bronze in 2013 came after a fractured tibia in March and a broken heel bone in rehab, giving him arguably his proudest moment despite an awful build up. Rio 2016 fourth place was heartbreaking in the moment, but with hindsight it stands as one of Team GB's most successful non-home Olympics and British gymnastics' best ever men's Olympic result. Kristian retired in 2017 on his own terms, something very few elite athletes get to do. Staying involved in the sport at arm's length made the transition significantly softer. On the sport's future, he is a fan of the eight skill drop, the direction of high bar, and the mixed team event, and expects prize money, AI judging, and kit rules to become bigger conversations. BEST MOMENTS: "It was almost like a soft play on steroids." "You do the basics well, and everything else looks after itself." "I finished the sport on my terms, and to have the luxury to do that is pretty unique." "You compete in those big moments, high pressurised environments, where you need to deliver." "It's not necessarily the gymnastics you miss. It's the camaraderie, the teammates, the environment." "The results are the results. That's one thing. But the friendships you build, the people you meet along the way, that's what's more special." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Recorded the week before the 2026 Commonwealth Games, host and Great Britain gymnast Winston Powell breaks down the men's artistic gymnastics competition team by team. He walks through England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Australia, and Cyprus, sharing his own take on who is likely to make finals, who could medal, and why this is shaping up to be the most open Commonwealth Games in years. KEY TAKEAWAYS: England, without Max Whitlock, are still the strongest team on paper with Adam Tobin, Alex Yolshin Cash, Luke Whitehouse, Joshua Nathan, and Gabriel Langton, and remain the front runners for team gold. Scotland may be their strongest ever squad, with Ruben Ward genuinely capable of challenging for all around gold as well as pommel, plus a supporting cast in Hamish Carter, Connor Sullivan, Pavel Karnajenko, and Joe Cemlyn Lynn. Wales look genuinely competitive this year, with three potential all arounders in Joe Cemlyn Jones, Alex Niscovenu, and Elliot Vernon, plus real threats on floor, rings, P bars, and high bar. Canada arrive without much Commonwealth Games experience beyond Felix Dolci and Rene Cornoya, but Felix alone gives them a real chance in the all around and on high bar. Australia will lean heavily on Jesse Moore, who Winston tips as possibly the man to beat in the all around, alongside pommel specialist Ritam Malik. Marios Georgiou is competing at his third Commonwealth Games at 29 and remains a genuine threat, particularly on high bar and floor, with four medals from Birmingham 2022 to his name. Individual finals look wide open. Winston flags Luke Whitehouse for floor, Ruben Ward for pommel, and predicts rings and vault could be won by athletes who are not the pure specialists on the day. Without Jake Jarman and Joe Fraser, the all around title is genuinely up for grabs. Any of England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, or Canada could take it home. BEST MOMENTS: "The team medal is the most coveted of them all. And the team that wins gets to lord it over everyone else for the next four years." "It could literally be anyone's game." "Anything can happen on the day." "I don't think it'll be as much of a clean sweep as it was last time." "Ruben covers up a lot of the holes that potentially could have been there otherwise." "This Commonwealth Games will be the year that other countries have the best opportunities to get the medals." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with Sam, Head of Sport at Scottish Gymnastics, for a wide ranging conversation on her 38 years in the sport. Sam walks through her journey from a taster session at four years old in West Yorkshire, to becoming a TeamGym gymnast and coach in Scotland, to leading the performance side of a national governing body. Along the way she covers coach and judge development, common misconceptions about governing bodies, and the excitement building around a home Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Sam started gymnastics at four through a free taster session at a local leisure centre, moved into artistic through a Halifax club, and later discovered TeamGym in Scotland after moving up for university at 18. TeamGym is closer to rugby than to artistic in feel, and Sam sees it as one of the best routes to prolong a gymnastics career because it does not demand the same 27 to 30 hour weeks as elite artistic. Coaching is more nerve wracking than competing. As a female TeamGym coach in Scotland, she was often spotting senior male gymnasts bigger than her, with real safety consequences if the timing went wrong. Scotland supports all eight gymnastics disciplines, which makes for a genuinely varied job. Each one requires different coaching approaches, funding models, and levels of gymnast contribution. Coach development at Scottish Gymnastics is deliberately behavioural, not technical. Communication, leadership, and working with parents and peers are treated as core skills, not soft ones. Judges are a hidden backbone of the sport. Scottish Gymnastics' next big project is future proofing the judging pipeline, especially at Brevet and international Brevet level. Governing bodies are often invisible until something goes wrong. A lot of their real value is in safeguarding, compliance, coach and judge support, event experience, and making sure the sport is safe enough for athletes and parents to not have to think about it. Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow is set to be huge for Team Scotland gymnastics. Selection calls are done by phone with human follow up, not email, and the target is a team medal plus individual apparatus medals. BEST MOMENTS: "It was as if it was a mask. I don't know how to explain it, but I was nervous going in, and then I just performed." "We don't develop better people without better coaches." "Gymnastics doesn't exist without coaches, and it doesn't exist without judges." "You only know what you know." "Glasgow certainly is going to roar." "We treat them as human beings. It doesn't change the outcome, but it matters." "It might even come down to execution and not the difficulty of the routine." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell takes listeners inside a full week at a British Gymnastics national training camp. He explains what the squad system is, why it matters, and how it plugs into the wider national programme, before walking through his own week day by day, including two big wipeouts, a hard fought new high bar connection, and a neck injury that ended his squad early. It's a rare, honest look at what actually happens behind the scenes of an elite gymnastics camp. KEY TAKEAWAYS: National squads bring together the top gymnasts and coaches in each age and level group for four to five days of focused training, testing, and development. The setup pools coaching knowledge, so a skill a gymnast has been stuck on for months might click when a different coach offers a new perspective. Profiling and strength testing at the start of camp are used to spot imbalances that could lead to overuse injuries, and to guide future strength and prehab work. Being surrounded by other elite gymnasts is a huge motivator. Seeing what your peers are doing pushes the level of everyone in the room. Some of the most valuable training moments come from odd challenges, like handstand switches on a single parallette, that push technique in ways normal training does not. Progress is not linear. Winston chased a squat half Kolman for over an hour, took a hard fall on high bar, and still walked away with a new connection: Tkatchev to Geinger. Injuries in elite gymnastics are often small movements, not big crashes. Winston's neck went during a routine conditioning exercise, not during a scary skill. The risk reward ratio matters. If a skill is very hard for you and not worth much in the code, there is usually an alternative that gets you to a similar place with less cost. BEST MOMENTS: "There's always a reason behind what you're doing, and there's always a reward behind what you're putting your time and effort into." "Sometimes it's worth it, but it's a risk reward ratio that you're working at." "Squads really do push you to try and learn new things and think outside the box." "As gymnasts, you're constantly growing. And even the coaches are constantly growing." "I felt like I couldn't really move my head at all." "I was like, is there going to be a third?" LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with John Scallon, a former NCAA Division 1 pommel horse specialist at the University of Minnesota turned high school coach and app builder. John walks through his unusual path through the sport, the corporate detour that pulled him out of it, the moment that pulled him back in, and how all of that led to him building two gymnastics apps: First, a morning routine app for athletes, and Upgrade, a video library for the Code of Points. KEY TAKEAWAYS: John only started gymnastics as a sophomore in high school, became a pommel specialist, and earned a Division 1 scholarship in two and a half years without ever doing a backflip or holding a handstand. Years in corporate website optimisation taught him how to read user intent and build experiences that feel like the product is reading your mind, exactly the lens he now uses to design tools for gymnasts. Coming home after a relationship ended reconnected him to his old coach and the sport, and a chance gym visit turned into a high school coaching role that became central to his life again. His app First reframes a science-backed morning routine as a seventh men's artistic event, scored out of 10, with each habit weighted by how much it supports circadian rhythm and athletic performance. His core insight: the day circle works exactly like a pommel circle. Pike it, cut a corner, and you pay for it on the other side. Flatten it and every other skill becomes easier. Upgrade is his Code of Points video library app, pulling the best YouTube footage of every skill into one organised, browsable home so gymnasts and coaches can see what skills actually look like at the top level. The vision goes beyond skills. Eventually it could host drills, progressions, and elite-coached courses, becoming an online academy for anyone in a gym without access to high level coaching. Gymnastics is shrinking at the grassroots and the NCAA level. John's bigger dream is reviving community spaces like old YMCAs and borrowing entertainment lessons from things like Savannah Bananas style baseball to grow audiences and make the sport sustainable. BEST MOMENTS: "I learned the circle, and then learning the skills is just putting your hands in different places." "The day circle functions the same as pommel horse. If you cut a part of the circle short, you have a debt that pays for it on the opposite side." "What sports are so dedicated to being aesthetically pleasing? Gymnastics is a really bizarre union of strength and grace." "Sleep is the biggest performance enhancing drug." "If you're really a gymnast at heart, watching these videos is going to completely change your life." "The kid is motivated, you show them the path, you get them excited about it. That can all happen in a year." JOHN'S LINKS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/first-morning-routine/id6757344123 https://www.upgradegymnastics.com LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with Omo, three time world medalist in DMT, World Games silver medalist in 2025, and the freshly crowned European Champion. Omo breaks down what DMT actually is, how he progressed from Acro at seven to the world stage by twelve, and how a last minute Cirque du Soleil setback ended up shaping his strongest competition to date. The conversation also dives into the inconsistency of the discipline, the tactical side of knowing the code, and why DMT deserves more visibility than it currently gets. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Omo started in Acro at seven before moving into DMT around 2016, making his first World Championships at just twelve years old in 2017. Going to a world stage so young taught him early on to expect the unexpected, and that not every competition is going to go to plan no matter how well training has gone. His 2025 World Games silver in Chengdu was a long awaited redemption after the previous edition in 2022 went badly for him. A Cirque du Soleil contract fell through just before Euros 2025, which left him in a strange headspace going in, lower pressure, less peaking, and ultimately a gold medal performance. DMT is one of the most inconsistent disciplines in gymnastics because the trampoline is small, the skills are huge, and there is no room to save yourself between elements. Knowing the code matters. At Euros, his coaches changed his first pass mid competition based on the scores ahead of him, and understanding why made him a better collaborator in those decisions. DMT needs to become more viewer friendly. Long waits between scores hurt the spectator experience, and formats like Faceoff show what the sport could borrow. Adversity really is a superpower. The hard volume blocks of training and the disappointment of the Cirque decision both fed directly into the form he showed at Euros. BEST MOMENTS: "I just keep doing it and see what happens. If I get good results, cool, but at least I get to flip." "It taught me, going forward, to expect the unexpected." "You run up, you do two flips, and then land. Hopefully on your feet, not your face." "I was kind of just there, doing my flips, see what happens. And it just worked out." "Everything happens for a reason. A couple of weeks later, I go out to Euros and get a gold medal." "I literally just enjoy it. Go with the flow." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: In this solo episode, host Winston Powell breaks down the controversy sparked by new IOC president Kirsty Coventry after she said she does not believe Olympic medalists should receive direct prize money from the IOC. As a GB athlete himself, Winston walks through what Coventry actually said, the strongest arguments on her side, and why he firmly believes Olympic athletes deserve a share of the value they generate, while still acknowledging the case for protecting wider athlete development funding. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Kirsty Coventry sparked major backlash by saying Olympic medals should not come with IOC prize money, arguing the IOC's role is to fund athlete development and life after sport for a much larger pool of athletes. The strongest case for her position is that prize money concentrates funding among the very few who medal, while the wider pathway needs ongoing investment to keep producing athletes in the first place. That funding inequality argument already breaks down at the governing body level. British Gymnastics gets more UK Sport and National Lottery funding when its athletes succeed at the Olympics, so success already breeds success. The Olympics simply does not exist without the athletes. People do not watch IOC committee meetings, they watch Simone Biles, Noah Lyles, and Leon Marchand. The IOC generated 7.7 billion dollars last cycle, with around 65 million paid out across 24 IOC directors, yet athletes still receive no direct prize money from the Games themselves. Toyota pulling out of an 835 million dollar partnership and openly stating the IOC does not prioritise athletes raises serious questions about where the money is actually going. Other major sports pay their athletes well. The NBA shares roughly 50 percent of revenue with players, while paying every Olympic athlete plus medal bonuses would barely dent IOC revenue at around 1 to 3 percent. The fairest model is not one or the other but both, real grassroots and athlete development funding alongside a meaningful revenue share for the people actually creating the spectacle. BEST MOMENTS: "The Olympics doesn't exist without the athletes." "The athletes themselves generate the value, and yet many struggle financially." "If the Olympics paid out athletes, plus gold, silver, and bronze bonuses, it wouldn't make a dent in their bottom line." "When you generate that amount of revenue, you have to be very careful about where it goes." "The question isn't whether athletes should be supported. Everyone agrees that they should. The question is whether the athletes who create the Olympic Games should share directly in the success of the Olympic Games." "You won't suddenly get random people trying to go into the Olympics because there's a financial reward out of the back of it." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with a qualified aerobic gymnastics judge and current GB athlete who has represented the country at both World and European Championships. The conversation dives deep into one of gymnastics' lesser known disciplines, breaking down what aerobic gymnastics actually is, how it is judged, what training looks like, and the long, honest road from genuinely hating the sport for years to becoming one of GB's top competitors in it. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Aerobic gymnastics is essentially a high energy, minute and a half dance built around eight elements, choreography blocks, and creative transitions, all judged on artistic, execution, and difficulty scores. The guest only fell in love with the sport once he started watching top level competitions and learning what truly elite aerobics looks like, with difficulty as his way in. Lockdown and a torn ACL knocked out his early shots at qualifying, but he eventually made his first World Championships in 2022, finishing 13th or 14th individually before steadily progressing. Aerobic routines are nonstop, with no breaks built in. The hardest part is not the elements themselves, but executing them perfectly when you are completely fatigued late in the routine. Difficulty scoring divides differently for groups and trios depending on the gender mix, a deliberate move to stop all male teams from dominating purely on raw element value. A B twist took the guest two to three years to learn properly because once technique goes wrong in aerobics, repetition can ingrain the mistake. Other gymnasts can copy elements from a video in one session. The artistry score is genuinely subjective, and routines that look exactly like everyone else's risk being marked down for being predictable or unoriginal. The sport is finally moving away from outdated routines and leotards that put both gymnasts and the wider public off, and modern aerobic gymnastics is now far more watchable. BEST MOMENTS: "I had to eventually love it." "You can think it's as difficult as you want, but if you're not training it to be perfect, it's not going to work." "If I'm working hard, the right things will come." "Just being there was massive for me." "You can say it as many times as you like, but until it's in the routine and it's happening, it doesn't exist." "If you look exactly like everyone has looked for the last 20 years, you're leaving yourself open to getting a lower score." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: In this solo episode, host Winston Powell pulls back the curtain on one of the least understood parts of the sport: how gymnasts actually learn skills. From the foundations and preps, through endless repetitions and combinations, to routine fitness and competing under pressure, Winston walks through the full journey a single skill takes before it ever appears in a routine, using his own experience learning skills like the Healy on parallel bars. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Every skill starts with foundations. You cannot build advanced elements without the basics being correct, and a flawed foundation can mean learning a skill incorrectly from the start. Preps are individual to each skill and exist to prepare you mentally and physically, letting you fail safely while getting a feel for the rhythm and motion. Skill learning is slow. A skill like the Healy can take months or years, often started at 13 or 14 and not competed until 16 or 17. Setting small goals along the way, first prep, first rep, first set, keeps motivation alive when the real payoff is years down the line. Time spent on one skill is time lost on another, so gymnasts have to be conscious of the trade offs in what they choose to drill. Repetition builds consistency, but a skill changes completely once you put something before it in a combination, so it has to be drilled in context, not just in isolation. Routine fitness is its own challenge. A skill that feels fine alone can sap huge energy late in a routine, which is why full routines and heavy weeks matter so much. Setbacks are part of the process. Progress is never a straight line, you will go backwards, and the only real answer is patience, respecting the game, and failing forwards. BEST MOMENTS: "You can't run before you can walk. And if you've taken a backwards step, you can't pretend that you haven't." "The point of the preps is to be able to fail in a safe environment." "The amount of time you spend on one thing means the time you're losing on something else." "None of these are pretty. None of these are perfect gymnastics, but over time they will get better." "All you need is your way of doing it. And that's enough." "Things take a long, long time. Things will be difficult, but that doesn't mean you're not moving in the right direction." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with Roddy Mackay, an ex-GB gymnast from the late 80s and early 90s, former Gladiators contestant, ex-British freestyle skydiving champion, and now a gymnastics club owner and school coach in Newcastle. Roddy reflects on how the sport has transformed over the past 40 years, the foundations laid by John Atkinson that built modern British gymnastics, his journey through television and skydiving after retirement, and why fun and early success matter more than long term promises in coaching. KEY TAKEAWAYS: The success British gymnastics is seeing today is built on foundations laid by John Atkinson 30 years ago, who predicted it would take 25 years for the results to come through. Gymnastics in the 80s and 90s was regimented and results focused, with very little safeguarding. The modern child-centred approach is a huge step forward for the sport. Late developers can absolutely thrive. Roddy did not hit his stride until around 17 to 20 years old and felt he could have continued competing for another five years had he stayed in. Men's artistic floor has lost much of its artistry. The skill of athletes like Neil Thomas in the 80s and 90s showed how dance elements and tumble passes could sit together. The volume of training hours in gymnastics deserves serious scrutiny. More efficient, focused sessions could deliver the same results while protecting kids' education and wellbeing. A career in gymnastics opens doors well beyond the sport. Roddy moved into Gladiators training and casting, TV stunt work, competitive skydiving, and now school coaching and club ownership. Coaches owe it to their gymnasts to put them in environments where they will experience success and recognition, not just promise rewards 10 years down the line. The greatest lesson sport teaches is resilience. Falling off the pommels 10 times and getting up for the 11th is what carries you through everything else in life. BEST MOMENTS: "What I've started now, you won't see the results for 25 years." (John Atkinson) "Gymnastics is the best foundation for any sport or activity you can do." "When you get knocked down, get up, dust yourself off, keep going." "The results will come if you enjoy it." "Coaches owe it to their gymnasts to put them in environments where they are going to have success." "There's a million different ways to do the same thing and you just have to keep going." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: In this solo episode, host Winston Powell breaks down what gymnastics actually teaches you, far beyond the skills, the scores, and the medals. Drawing on his own experience as a Senior GB gymnast and on recent conversations with guests like Bryony Page, Roddy Mackay, and Joe Fishburn, Winston explores the mental and personal lessons that gymnastics quietly builds into the people who do it, and why they matter just as much as anything that happens in the gym. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Gymnastics is one of the best sports for young children because it builds full body awareness, strength, and discipline, which transfers powerfully into other sports later on. Delayed gratification is a core gymnastics lesson. Skills can take years to make it into a routine, and the biggest results, like John Atkinson's 25 year vision for British gymnastics, only show up over the long term. Failure is not the enemy. The goal is to fail forwards, making different mistakes each time, learning from them, and getting closer to the outcome you want. Effort alone is not enough. As Bryony Page's Rio journey shows, success comes when you channel that effort into the right places: psychology, S&C, nutrition, sleep, and technical work. Talent matters at the very top, but it is not the only ingredient. Talent comes in many shapes and sizes, and your strengths in gymnastics will shift and grow over time. Tying your entire identity to gymnastics is risky. When the sport is going well it feels great, but when it is not, you need a sense of self that exists outside the gym. You are more than your start value or your score. Your worth is not defined by what you can contribute to a team on any given day. People overestimate what they can do in a year but underestimate what they can do in five. Long term ambition is where the real growth lives. BEST MOMENTS: "Failure is not something to avoid. Failure is something to embrace." "Failing forwards means failing, but getting closer and closer to the perfect or the correct outcome." "Your entire gymnastics career is experience for your later life." "Just because you can't do it one way doesn't mean you can't do it. It means you can't do it that way." "Your worth is not directly tied to how successful you are as a gymnast." "The only person with the right to judge you is you. But you have to make sure that you're judging yourself fairly." "People often overestimate what they can do in a year, but underestimate what they can do in five." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Host Winston Powell sits down with Zara Turton, the 2015 World Down Syndrome Rhythmic All-Around Champion, who has recently picked up tumbling alongside her rhythmic training and gone viral on Instagram with over 5 million views. This is a more light-hearted conversation than usual, covering Zara's gymnastics journey, her gymnastics family at City of Birmingham, her plans to start coaching, and why disability gymnastics deserves much more visibility. For listeners on audio only, the YouTube version with captions is recommended for the best experience. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Zara started rhythmic gymnastics at seven years old, brought into the sport by her mum, dad, sisters, nan, and aunties, with Olympians Mimi Cesar and Frankie as her early role models. At the 2015 World Down Syndrome Championships, Zara competed across five pieces and came home with five medals, including the all-around gold. After years of dedicated rhythmic training, Zara has now added tumbling to her schedule and has already competed five times in the discipline. Her recent Instagram reel reached 5.3 million views, bringing a huge wave of new visibility to disability gymnastics and the athletes within it. Zara is currently working through her coaching qualifications in both rhythmic and tumbling, with plans to coach development groups rather than recreational classes. Joe Fraser has been a long-time personal supporter, attending Zara's competitions over the years and welcoming her into his own gym community. More mainstream representation, like seeing Down syndrome athletes on shows like Strictly Come Dancing, helps break down outdated assumptions about what is possible in elite performance. Zara's message to young gymnasts with Down syndrome is simple, come and talk to her, and she will help. BEST MOMENTS: (when asked what gymnastics means to her) "My life." "I'm strong every week." "I got to have my photo up in the gym." "If anyone does (judge), you just leave it." "More worlds." LINKS: Website: https://winstonpowell.co.uk/ Email: [email protected] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wpowell05/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@winstonpowell5 E-book: https://payhip.com/b/f6RjV ABOUT THE HOST: As a member of the Senior Great Britain Squad, Winston Powell brings firsthand experience to every episode. His achievements include being the Under 18 English Champion in 2023 and reaching the finals in three events at the Junior World Championships the same year: the All-Around, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar finals, qualifying 7th for the All-Around. With five international appearances as a GB gymnast, he has gained invaluable insights into the sport's highest levels. His passion for gymnastics, combined with his deep understanding of the challenges and triumphs faced by elite athletes, makes him the perfect guide to exploring the strategies and stories behind gymnastics success.