A former child gymnast has been crowned a British champion some 30 years after she won her last gold medal.
A beauty therapist, Suzy Kerfoot, 44, spent her youth pursuing the disciplines of vault, bars, beam and floor routines. She was also Kent under 15s champion.
She noted the idea of returning to the sport had ‘never crossed her mind’ until she started taking her two daughters to classes for kids, and thought she’d give it another go.
After her decision to return was cemented, she went on to secure two bronze medals in her age group in 2019 and 2022.
However, it was her win in the 45s intermediate British gymnastics championship this past August that made her ’emotional.’
Suzy said: ‘When I won gold, it was a feeling like I’ve not had before. It was very, very emotional. I was so happy. I just cried. I didn’t really think that was ever an option for me – to win.
‘It had never crossed my mind about going back. I always spoke about it. Everybody knew that I did gymnastics, but I’d never considered doing it again. But when I took my kids to gymnastics, I found out there was an adult class. I just thought “I want to give it a go” and it turned out I could still do it.’
Suzy, originally from Kent but now living in Sheffield, South Yorks, was just three years old when began going to gymnastics classes, following in the footsteps of her older sister.
And it didn’t take long before she showed a flare for the sport. She hit her heights at 15 when she became Kent champion – with footage from the time showing how her incredible floor routine helped her bag the win.
Sadly, Suzy stopped competing soon after and finally gave up at the age of 19.
It was only when her kids, Jessica, 13, and Elsie, 10, began gymnastics classes that she thought about taking the sport up again at the age of 39.
‘The requirements of your training mean you’ve got to be there at certain times, and when I got a job, I just couldn’t commit to that,’ she explained.
‘I was about 19 when I stopped, and then I literally didn’t do any gymnastics at all until just before my 40th birthday when I started the adult classes. The smell of the gym overall brought back that familiar feeling for me – the chalk in the air, the leather on the beam.
‘And as soon as I smelled it and walked in there, I got that adrenaline rush. So when they said they did adult classes, I didn’t even have to think twice about it.’
Suzy, who owns Aspects of Beauty, in Sheffield, always kept fit during her 20s and 30s but said getting back into gymnastics was still a big physical challenge.
‘As soon as I got there, my muscle memory took over,’ she added. ‘However, I feel it in every single part of my body now. I have to warm up for a long time. The risk of injury is always on my mind, but I only do things that I know I can do.’
Suzy said her coach at High Green Gymnastics Academy, in Sheffield, had started to put her into British competitions from 2019 onwards.
When she moved up an age category this year to the over 45s, she felt she had her best possible chance of taking home a gold medal. She finally clinched the top medal on August 6 after getting the highest overall score in the vault, bars, beam and floor routines.
Now following her success, she is encouraging others to get involved even if they had no past experience in gymnastics.
‘There’s a girl in our team that competed, and she’d never competed in gymnastics before,’ she said.
‘So for adults, if they didn’t do it as a kid or just did it at school and enjoyed it, they can still start again and they can still compete. I’m going to keep going and keep competing.
‘I’m going to see what my body will let me do. But I’m not going to overdo it. I’m self-employed, so I can’t go around hurting myself.
‘If it leads to medals, that’s great, but the most important thing is I’m keeping active and enjoying it.’
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