A year ago, in a chaotic women’s team final at the 2022 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, a strong and consistent Canadian team emerged with a surprise bronze medal.

Team Veteran Ellie Blackwho has competed in the last three Olympic Games, fell to the ground as the results were confirmed above his head, a once impossible dream realized.

“I think it’s still difficult to really know that we’ve done this and really take that into account,” Black said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com ahead of the 2023 edition of the global meeting in Antwerp, Belgium. . “It was an incredible springboard for Canadian gymnastics, for the next generations, for the younger ones… for these girls to understand that sometimes, when you don’t necessarily believe that it’s possible, you should believe in it and you should work strong and we should go there with this mindset that it’s a possibility.

That bronze medal, which earned Canada a spot on a five-woman team for its National Olympic Committee, opened up another possibility: for Black to step back and heal an injured ankle that has been nagging her since the Tokyo 2020 Games, organized in 2021.

“After last year’s Worlds, my ankle was still giving me some problems, it was mostly sore from the Olympics,” Black explained. “We tried different avenues to help relieve the pain, but it was somehow persisting, so we decided to try doing a scope. I had bits of bone in there, lots of stuff causing pain, irritation and inflammation that wouldn’t let up.

“It’s been really helpful,” she continued, “I feel like my ankle feels better than it has in the last couple of years.”

Black hasn’t competed much this season, only performing on the uneven bars at the Canadian national championships before winning the all-around at the world trials.

Given the uncertainty over the recovery timetable, Black says the operation would not have been possible if Olympic qualification had been on the line in Antwerp.

“If we hadn’t already qualified for the Olympics, I don’t think that possibility would have been considered for my ankle this year, I just don’t know what the recovery plan would look like, if I would be back. in time for this year’s Worlds, which would have been incredibly important,” she said. “I think it really gave me the opportunity to kind of put the health of my ankle and my priorities for next year, building to be stronger for next year a top priority for me.”