FRANCIS Danusia

General
TOKYO QUALIFICATION
She was a reserve for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and did not make the Jamaica team for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. She qualified for the 2020 Games in Tokyo through her performances at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. "Because Jamaica hasn't qualified an entire gymnastics team I had to enter as an individual and compete against entire teams from around the world. I had to finish in the top 20 to qualify, which means that I have beaten entire teams to qualify. Simply put, it took so much more energy out of me. As an individual I had to do all the categories myself. One girl against entire teams. I had to overcome obstacles and self-doubt at times, and I am so happy I have persevered. It has been a long and fulfilling journey. The Olympics is my childhood dream and there's nothing stopping me." She plans to retire after the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo. "It's a little bit daunting to think about another year of training on a body that's already been through enough. I'll be soaking in the experience, no matter what the year is." (dailynews.com, 11 Apr 2020; latimes.com, 24 Mar 2020; torontocaribbean.com, 30 Oct 2019; jamaica-gleaner.com, 26 Oct 2019; uclabruins.com, 05 Oct 2019)

BREAK AND RETURN
She took a break from the sport in mid-2016 after graduating from the University of California Los Angeles [UCLA] in the United States of America. She spent time coaching gymnastics and working in the media industry. In September 2017 she decided to return to the sport. "I was enjoying retirement and didn't think about training but there was one particular week where everyone was asking me if I could consider the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. I didn't want to look back in 10 years time and think what if. I graduated on a high from UCLA and it just seemed the natural thing to do was retire from the sport but I wasn't injured, I still loved the sport. I emailed my coaches at Heathrow [Gymnastics Club] and they were very supportive and so was my family and friends so I thought why not, I don't want to have any regrets." (coventrytelegraph.net, 20 Oct 2019; flogymnastics.com, 25 Oct 2017)

REPRESENTING JAMAICA
She was born in Coventry, England, to a Jamaican father and Polish mother. She originally represented Great Britain in artistic gymnastics, including at the European and world championships. In 2015 she began representing Jamaica. "I have dual citizenship. My dads' side of the family is Jamaican. I competed for Great Britain until I was 19. Great Britain have got competitive over the years and I would have to come back to the UK to do trials. That was not feasible for me while studying in the United States so I looked into the idea for competing for Jamaica. I have always been a huge [Jamaican sprinter] Usain Bolt fan so while I was able to make this a reality, I went for it. Gymnastics is a fairly new sport there so each time we step out we are inspiring lots of young gymnasts. While considering Jamaica, I also had the opportunity to represent Poland because my mother is Polish, however, it was the Usain Bolt factor that really got me." (thebigkickoff.com, 15 Jul 2020; torontocaribbean.com, 30 Oct 2019; coventrytelegraph.net, 20 Oct 2019; british-gymnastics.org, 20 Oct 2015)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She has worked as a host for British gymnastics stage show GymFusion, a host and backstage interviewer for British modelling competition Top Model UK, and as a host for University of California Los Angeles' YouTube show Bruin Banter. She has also worked as a stuntwoman, including doubling for musician Rita Ora at the 2017 MTV European Music Awards where she performed a somersault into a car. "I was [also] a stunt double in the new Wonder Woman movie. I've been lucky enough to do this type of work." (coventrytelegraph.net, 20 Oct 2019; fig-gymnastics.com, 27 Oct 2018; LinkedIn profile, 01 Feb 2019)

.