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: info@winstonpowell.co.uk
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: info@winstonpowell.co.uk
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: info@winstonpowell.co.uk
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: info@winstonpowell.co.uk
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: info@winstonpowell.co.uk
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.