Danusia Francis shines at pre-Olympic warm-up in Spain's Liga Iberdrola
The British-based gymnast had competed for Xelska a few times before, so needing to get some competition in before she jets off to Tokyo, Francis, Jamaica’s lone gymnast for the Olympics, took advantage of the opportunity and helped her team to victory in the six-team competition.
Teams in the Liga Iberdrola or Spanish League can invite an international athlete to join them but that athlete is not allowed to compete in more than three events. However, Francis managed to compete in all four but did not receive a score for the balance beam routine.
Nevertheless, she was glad she was able to test herself in what were trying conditions.
“I did do all the events but I didn’t get a score for the balance beam but it was really good practice,” she told Sportsmax.TV.
“It’s really a fast-paced competition, faster than any competition I’ve done and it was super-hot and it was a good way to test myself at this stage in the game leading into Tokyo.”
She said she felt like she performed well and now has a good idea of where she is a month ahead of the start of the Games.
“My performances were really good. I was extremely happy with my bar routine, I got a really good score there, and then my vault was good,” she said.
“I did make a mistake on (the) beam but as I mentioned, I was only supposed to do three of the events and the beam was a last-minute decision so I was a bit flustered and it was kind of an uncharacteristic mistake so nothing that I can’t fix.
“But I did do my new skill on the beam pretty well so that was good and my floor routine was pretty good. I already knew that I had to work on some stamina there and with the heat, I felt that but I managed to do a good performance and it was a good confidence booster that made me feel like I am on track for where I want to be in the next few weeks.”
Francis is the second female gymnast to represent Jamaica at the Olympic Games following in the footsteps of Toni-Ann Williams, who at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was the first female gymnast to compete for Jamaica at the Olympic Games.