Six world champions tell their stories

Megan Kealy - Tumbling

Megan Kealy was part of the team which won gold in the team tumbling event at last year’s World Trampoline Championships in Tokyo.

Tumbling was a men’s event at the 1932 Olympics, when American Rowland Wolfe won the title, but for most of the public it remains a hidden discipline.

While competitions are held alongside trampoline events, it looks more like artistic gymnastics – which was how Megan came into the fast and powerful art of tumbling at the age of seven.

She was the last team member to compete in the World Championships, and her top score secured Great Britain’s gold in the event.

“We were a very young team,” Megan said. “The same four girls, we were junior European champions in 2016, so it was really cool to experience this three years later.

“There’s very little room for error. We knew we had to trust each other in that moment.

“It was a lot of pressure to go last, but my teammates and my coach believed in me. When the results came up, it was an unbelievable feeling.”

Megan’s level of success on the track means she is looking for more frames to put her medals in. This follows on from years of groundwork to get into the best position for events.  

Megan said: “We might be small but we are very strong.

“We work a lot to prepare our bodies for those skills, not only physically but mentally. The twisting, and doing double and triple flips in the air, it can be a little scary. You have to not overthink it, because that’s where it can go wrong.”

Megan’s target is success at the World Games, an international multi-sport event for disciplines not contested at the Olympics. However, the next edition in Birmingham, Alabama, has been moved to 2022, delayed for one year to avoid clashing with the rescheduled Tokyo Games.

And whilst success as a team was enjoyable, Britain has only one individual spot at the World Games, meaning Megan has to be the best in the country – and beat her teammates – if she wants to qualify for Birmingham 2022 or the following World Games in Chengdu in China in 2025.

Megan explained. “In qualifications, you compete to qualify for individual and team, so our priority is always team first.

“When you’re competing as a team, you have everyone around you. doing it for yourself, and your team and your country. When you compete as an individual, it’s all on you.”

Megan has high hopes for the future growth of tumbling.

She said: “People have no awareness of what our sport is. It’s powerful and fast, and it easily entertains people. It doesn’t last a long time – it’s quick, it’s like watching diving. When they do know, they’re amazed by it.”

“I wish people knew a bit more about tumbling. There’s little funding because it’s not in the Olympics, so it’s a bit hidden away.

“Some of our competitions are being broadcast by BBC Sport, which is bringing it out a bit more, but I want more people to know so we can show the world what we do.”