With the weight of the world on her shoulders and a Commonwealth Games gold medal at stake, Georgia Godwin knew exactly what soundtrack she needed to deliver glory.
Holding a handy lead over Ondine Achampong and Emma Spence, and needing only a clean performance, the Australian commenced her floor routine to an instrumental version of Michael Buble’s Feeling Good.
A month after Godwin had contemplated skipping Birmingham altogether amid ankle issues, the Australian hit every beat, and officially snapped England’s run of artistic gymnastics gold medals.
Godwin’s 12,950 on the floor and total score of 53,550 sealed her first Commonwealth Games gold, an upgrade on her all-around silver on the Gold Coast, ahead of England’s Achampong (53,000) and Canada’s Spence (52,350).
“There’s been a lot that I’ve had to get through. I came into this competition with no expectations, I just wanted to do my best and here we are,” Godwin told reporters.
“That was actually quite difficult for me going into the floor because you don’t want to stuff it up, so that plays on your mind.
“But I just said ‘no, you’ve done this 100 times … so just enjoy it. It’s your last floor routine here. Just enjoy it. Get the crowd involved and smile at the judges.’
“It is a new floor routine. That song is something that’s grown with me.
“Whenever I’m down I always play the song, Michael Buble always somehow manages to make me happy. So it was just the only choice for my new floor music.”
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Godwin was coming off Saturday night’s team silver and admitted she hadn’t slept much before the tight turnaround.
The Queenslander was fifth after scoring 13,300 on the vault first-up.
But an outstanding uneven bars routine delivered 13,550 and lifted Godwin into third, 0,700 off England’s leader Alice Kinsella.
The competition opened up dramatically when Kinsella fell off the beam, failed to complete her routine and went over time.
The 21-year-old was distracted and slumped in a corner of Birmingham Arena after scoring 11,000.
“I did hear the crowd when Alice fell, but I didn’t quite know what was going on,” Godwin said.
“I tried to stay in my own little bubble, focus on what I was doing.”
Godwin capitalized, completing a brilliant routine by dismounting with a double somersault in the pike position to earn a competition-high score of 13,750 and take the lead.
“My beam routine, I’ve never quite hit the start score I’ve wanted to and if I’m correct, I did hit it today,” she said.
Achampong also fell, further opening the door for Godwin to seal her triumph.
Fellow Australian Emily Whitehead finished 12th on 47,650.
Godwin will compete in Monday’s vault and uneven bars finals and Tuesday’s beam final.
Elsewhere, Jesse Moore had to withdraw halfway through the men’s all-around final with a shoulder injury.
The 19-year-old is unlikely to compete in Monday’s rings final but could feature in the pommel horse and high bar deciders, on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
Clay Mason Stephens finished 11th on 76,800 and will finish his campaign in Monday’s floor final.
AAP
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