Ellie Black reflects on Paris 2024 and the Olympic spirit

Ellie Black joined an exclusive global group in women’s artistic gymnastics this past summer when she made her fourth Olympic appearance. The now-29-year-old is charting a new path of longevity in the sport as the first Canadian artistic gymnast to compete in four Olympic Games.

At Paris 2024, Black finished sixth in the individual all-around, an event which was headlined by American superstar Simone Biles. Black’s result in Paris was Canada’s second-best ever Olympic result in the event, behind only her own fifth-place finish at Rio 2016.

Black was also a veteran leader and role model to the Canadian women’s team that finished fifth in the team final at Paris 2024. 

Black has long been a leader not only on the gym floor, but also off of it. A captured moment of her comforting a disappointed competitor in Paris caught the world’s attention as an example of the true Olympic spirit, and resulted in Black being awarded the Fair Play Award by the International Olympic Committee.

Olympic.ca caught up with Black after she had a chance to catch her breath post-Games to chat about her Paris experience, that viral hug, and her participation in Biles’ elite gymnastics tour.

Can you just tell us a bit about your experience at Paris 2024?

Paris was truly incredible, especially coming off of the COVID Olympics. Being in Tokyo and not having our support systems or our friends and family around, no audience was really tough, and it was also very stressful in the lead up to those Games. 

So I think in the lead up toward Paris, it was exciting to be able to prepare with my teammates and know that my family and friends were going to attend and be there cheering. 

There’s something to say about Olympic energy and excitement, and I feel like that was so present during the Paris Games. Our competition results were also really great for our team, so I think we were really proud of what we were able to accomplish.

As well as the results, I think it was special for me because competing in Paris I knew a lot of other athletes in different sports from over the years, and I’ve become really close with a lot of them. Being able to follow their journeys and cheer for them and to interact with them at the Games too. And not even just athletes from Canada, but from all around the world; I think that was something that I really loved, because I think that’s truly what the Olympics are about.

You’re such an Olympic veteran at this point. Did you have any advice for the first time Olympians on the gymnastics team, or maybe on the broader Canadian team?

I’ve had so much experience competing, but I still have to handle those nerves too. It’s continuous practice, but it was very special being with that mix of girls on my team. We had a few returning Olympians, and then we also had some new timers to the Games. 

I remember, before we went out for qualification, there was a moment where the two girls, Aurélie [Tran] and Cassie [Lee], who were first time Olympians, they just kind of had this moment. I could see the sparkle in their eyes. I could see the excitement, the pure joy of achieving what they worked so hard to do—to compete at the Olympic Games—and they were going to be able to walk out and go do that. 

And I remember that giving me all the emotions, because I was just watching them have that incredible moment. It was a really great reminder to go “wow!” and take a look at everything you’ve done to get here, all that hard work, all those people who have supported you, and now you get to just embrace the moment and go out and do what you’ve trained for. 

We also had a men’s team in gymnastics in Canada qualify for the first time since 2008, so that was truly incredible to have the men’s team with us as well, and for them to have such incredible results. They worked so hard to be there. I’ve seen a lot of them develop over the years too, and so it’s really special to share that Olympics with them. I’d never been to an Olympics where we had a full women’s team and full men’s team. 

Going back to what you said about your teammates having that first time Olympic experience—how do you feel you’ve grown as an athlete, or just as a person, since you made your first Olympic appearance?

Oh my goodness, I have grown a lot as an athlete and also as just a human being. There’s a lot of stuff now that I know that, I look back and I’m like, “man, I wish I had known that when I was 16 and just starting out!” But that’s also the beauty of sport—the growth and the learning and the experiences that you go through help shape you into the person that you kind of come out the other side as. 

Everything I’ve kind of learned I try to share with those girls, so hopefully they have a little bit more to go on. I was pretty lucky, when I was younger, I did have some great teammates to guide me, but I have definitely been a little bit more of a trailblazer in the sense of staying in the sport longer. Hopefully I can show that there is longevity and there is a different path for everyone. If you want to stay in the sport, you definitely can, and you can get better as you get older. 

I would say that I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older that every athlete is different, and everyone is going to have a different plan and different timeline. Don’t compare yourself to others, really embrace who you are and what makes you unique, and also that if you’re not great at something at the beginning, you can improve, you can get better, and that can become a strength—that happened to me! 

At my first Olympics, I wasn’t allowed near the uneven bars at all. Flash forward to my third and fourth Olympic Games and it was one of my best scoring events. I have a skill named after me on that apparatus now. So, I think it’s about learning about yourself, what you want to take out of the sport, how you need to adapt as you get older, what your goals are.

Can you talk a little bit about the moment that led to you winning the Fair Play Award when you were comforting your competitor? I’m sure it did not even remotely cross your mind at the time that that would turn into such a big thing. 

Yeah, that was truly an in-the-moment situation. For our qualification [round], Canada was in the same subdivision as France, and one of my good friends, Melanie [de Jesus dos Santos], she’s such a beautiful human being and a beautiful gymnast. France really had a tough day in qualification, and Melanie especially, and when we were exiting the competition and came over, I could see how emotional she was and how upset she was.

I just wanted to give her a big hug and let her know that she was not alone, we all support her and that she herself is enough, and sport doesn’t define who we are. It’s really hard as competitors and as athletes, because that gets intertwined with our self identity. 

A lot of that moment, I think, shines on me, but I do also want the world to know and see that she’s also an incredible human being. 

I was truly honoured to receive that Fair Play Award from the Olympic Games. There’s only one athlete who is selected out of the whole entire Olympics to receive that. I think for our gymnastics community, especially, and Canadians in sport, I think it shines such a light on the true meaning of what the Olympic Games are and what sport is all about and why we do it. 

READ: Excellence, respect, friendship: Team Canada shows off Olympic values at Paris 2024

You were on the Gold Over America Tour post-Games. Can you talk a little bit about what that experience was like?

Yes, so this was my second time joining the Gold Over America Tour [GOAT], which is a tour that Simone Biles put together as a post-Olympic tour for gymnastics across the US. We did it the first time after Tokyo. They added men’s [gymnastics] to this tour too, which was very exciting. 

The GOAT Tour brings together athletes, not only from the US, but around the world. It brings the sport all across the country to all of these young athletes, all of these parents, to these areas that maybe don’t necessarily get that chance to see that in person. It gives them the chance to see some of their heroes or role models in the sport, up close and personal.

It’s really fun for us as athletes to do because we don’t usually have a chance to come together in a non-high stress situation; it’s usually at competitions when we’re all together. So it’s really nice for us to be together, to make incredible friendships, be able to go out and just have fun with gymnastics and hopefully inspire next generations to follow their dreams and embrace who they are and what makes them special. 

It is very long right after the Olympic Games. We did 32 shows, five shows a week. You live on a tour bus, you’re kind of like a rock star, which is pretty cool, but the lifestyle is hard, like almost every day you’re waking up in a new city with a new show. But I absolutely love performing. 

They should bring it to Canada as well.

That’s what I keep saying!

Rapid fire with Ellie Black

An athlete that you look up to?

Oh my gosh. Well, I look up to Melanie de Jesus dos Santos!

Favourite apparatus to train?

Uneven bars. I like the rapid part of this!

You really have evolved. 

I have evolved a lot! I was questioning myself saying that, but with bars, there’s a lot of fun stuff to learn, even though it’s scary. And I spend a lot of time on bars these days. Once you actually kind of figure out how to do bars, it really does feel like flying. So, yeah, I didn’t think that was going to come out of my mouth! 

Any pre-competition rituals or routines?

For me, pre-competition, I think it’s just about putting on some good music, doing a little bit of visualization or activation, but not thinking too much about gymnastics before I get going. 

Best advice for young gymnasts?

My best advice for young gymnasts would be to enjoy every moment, the ups and the downs, and to be patient with yourself. Know that every individual is different, and every path looks different. Don’t compare yourself to others and be patient with your path, and really just to enjoy every single moment, because it does fly by and you can’t do it forever, forever. You can do it pretty long, though, I’m telling you right now.