Ellie Black makes Commonwealth Games history, men’s gymnastics team gets first gold in two decades
Ellie Black made history on Sunday, becoming the first artistic gymnast to win two all-around titles at the Commonwealth Games.
The now 30-year-old four-time Olympian claimed the gold medal with a total score of 53.050 on the four apparatus, putting her 0.150 ahead of Australian Breanna Scott. Black had last competed at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, where she also captured the all-around gold medal.
This one was particularly impressive as it was the second time in as many days that Black competed on all four apparatus—having led Canada to win the silver medal in the women’s team event on Saturday—after not having done an all-around competition in two years.
“It’s pretty amazing, and 12 years ago I probably wouldn’t have imagined that I’d be here right now,” said Black, who made her Commonwealth Games debut in 2014 when they were also held in Glasgow. “But that’s the beauty of sport. We’re just changing the narrative of women in sport, and gymnastics, and hopefully inspiring the coming generations to see that there’s no age cap.”
Making it extra sweet was sharing the podium with 16-year-old teammate Lia-Monica Fontaine, who won the all-around bronze medal after qualifying in fifth place. They had been joined in the women’s team event by Gabrielle Black, Lia Redick, and Alyssa Guerrier-Calixte.
On Friday, Canada won its first gold medal in the men’s team event in 20 years. A trio of Olympians—René Cournoyer, Félix Dolci, and William Émard—were joined by two children of Olympians—Jordan Carroll and Ethan Ikeda—in achieving the amazing result. Showcasing consistency and composure across all six apparatus, Canada totalled 241.400 to end England’s win streak that dated back to the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“This is an opportunity for us to show the federations and Team Canada as a whole that the men’s gymnastics team are putting the effort and the work in and most importantly are getting the results,” said Dolci.
“We were aiming for that gold medal. We completed the plan and we succeeded so we are really happy,” added Émard.
Cournoyer, Dolci and Émard all competed at Paris 2024, which was the first Olympic Games for which Canada qualified a full men’s artistic gymnastics team since Beijing 2008. Carroll’s mother Mary represented Canada in diving at Barcelona 1992 before becoming an accomplished coach. Ikeda’s father Richard was a member of the Canadian men’s gymnastics team at Atlanta 1996.
In the men’s all-around final, Dolci made a great recovery from what he called an “atrocious and terrible” pommel horse routine to move up from 17th place after the first two rotations of the apparatuses to take the silver medal. Dolci’s final score of 79.450 left him two-tenths of a point back of gold medallist Reuben Ward of Scotland.
“Getting 9.5 on the second event when you’ve got four more to go is one heck of a mountain to climb, but I stayed positive, confident and ambitious throughout,” said the 24-year-old, who had topped the all-around qualification standings. “I wanted to showcase that it’s never done until it’s done. That’s something I deeply value and I’m glad I was able to showcase that.”
Monday marked the start of the apparatus finals. Dolci and Émard concluded the session by going 1-2 in the men’s rings final. Émard was the first to go and scored 13.600, which held up for the lead through five other competitors until it was Dolci’s turn. Both men had the same difficulty score of 5.000 (the hardest in the final) but Dolci’s execution was stronger, giving him an overall mark of 13.766 for the gold medal.
Fontaine took the gold medal in the women’s vault with a score of 14.000. It’s just the latest impressive result for the gymnast who won silver on the apparatus during her world championship debut last fall. Earlier this year she also won vault silver in her first appearance at a FIG World Cup event.
That was followed immediately by a gold medal performance by Carroll in the men’s pommel horse, the apparatus on which he specializes. He scored 15.000 to finish one spot ahead of Ward. Carroll had shown his potential in the qualification round when he posted a higher score than the reigning Olympic champion, Rhys McClenaghan of Northern Ireland. Carroll improved on that performance in the final.
Cournoyer earned an individual silver medal with his runner-up finish in men’s floor exercise. He placed only behind the reigning world silver medallist in the event, England’s Luke Whitehouse.
Black won her ninth career Commonwealth Games medal when she took silver on the uneven bars, scoring 13.900 to place only behind Australia’s Kate McDonald.
The gymnastics competition concludes on Tuesday with finals in men’s vault, women’s balance beam, men’s parallel bars, women’s floor exercise, and men’s horizontal bar.
Fans can catch Team Canada in action on CBC TV, CBC Gem and ICI TOU.TV (in French) with live daily broadcast and streaming coverage until August 2. You can also keep up with results and information via @cwthsportcan (Commonwealth Sport Canada) on social media.
