Ellie Black
Elsabeth Ann "Ellie" Black is a Canadian artistic gymnast. She is a two-time Olympian, having represented her country at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is the 2017 World all-around silver medalist, making her the first Canadian gymnast to win a world all-around medal. Black is also the 2018 Commonwealth Games all-around champion, a two time Pan American Games all-around champion champion, and a six-time Canadian national all-around champion. At the 2016 Olympic Games, Black finished 5th in the individual all-around.
In 2018 she was named one of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotian history. In October, 2018, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, Arthur LeBlanc, announced that Black would be awarded the Order of Nova Scotia at a ceremony to be held on November 6, for her contribution as an ambassador for both gymnastics and the province stating "Ellie is an outstanding role model for her peers and young gymnasts, demonstrating a great work ethic and a graciousness in both victory and loss. Ms Black takes time with her young fans, acknowledging their support and sharing her experiences". Black is only the second person under 25 to receive the Order of Nova Scotia, the first being hockey star Sidney Crosby.
Junior career
2009
In December, Black competed at Elite Canada in Oakville, Ontario. She placed tenth in the all around competition with a score of 49.35 and third on vault with a score of 12.925.2010
In May, Black competed at the Canadian Championships in Kamloops, Canada. She placed 14th in the all around final with a score of 50.300. In event finals, she placed third on vault scoring 13.950 and first on balance beam scoring 14.500.In December, Black competed at Elite Canada in Gatineau, Canada. She placed fourteenth in the all around with a score of 48.950, second on vault with a score of 13.600, fourth on balance beam with a score of 12.950, and eighth on floor with a score of 12.450.
Senior career
2012
In February, Black competed at Elite Canada in Mississauga, Canada. She placed ninth in the all around with a score of 52.350. In event finals, Black placed first on vault scoring 14.750, third on balance beam scoring 13.550, and seventh on floor scoring 12.600.In April, Black participated in the 2nd Artistic Gymnastics Meeting in San Bernardo, Brazil with gymnasts from Brazil, Canada, and South Korea. She won both the vault and balance beam finals with scores of 13.988 and 14.600.
Later in April, Black competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Osijek, Croatia. She won gold in the vault and floor finals scoring 14.575 and 13.725 respectively.
In May, Black competed at the Canadian Championships in Regina, Canada. She placed third all around in qualifications but dropped to seventh in the all around final with a score of 53.600. In event finals, Black placed first on vault scoring 14.475, seventh on balance beam scoring 12.800, and third on floor scoring 13.950. Before the competition she told International Gymnast Magazine, "I think I have a lot to offer the Canadian team, especially on vault, which has always been my strongest event. I have also worked to increase my difficulty and execution on beam and floor. My plan is to continue all the aspects of my training that have brought me success this far. The positive results from recent competitions are a strong motivator to keep working hard and improve further. I also intend to use what I have learned at the international meets that I've attended to help me. Hopefully this will prepare me to have a strong performance at Nationals, which is an important competition for the team selection."
At the end of June, Black was one of the twelve gymnasts chosen to compete at the Final Olympic Selection meet in Gatineau, Canada. On the first day of competition she placed sixth in the all around with a score of 52.050. Based on her performances here and at the Canadian Championships she was selected to the five member Olympic team.
2012 London Olympics
In July, Black competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. She helped the Canadian team qualify to the team finals and individually she qualified to the vault final with a score of 14.366. After qualifications, Black said, "It was a fantastic experience and I had so much fun." She later added, "This is my life's dream. Everybody here supports you and you support them, we all have each other's back. We had a couple mistakes but most of the competition was great." In the team final, she contributed scores of 15.233 on vault, 14.266 on balance beam, and 14.208 on floor toward the Canadian team's fifth-place finish. In the vault final, Black injured her left ankle on her first vault and was unable to complete her second vault meaning that she placed eighth with a score of 0.000. Her coach, David Kikuchi, "She's disappointed that she wasn't able to do better. But what I'll tell her, and what she'll realize in the upcoming hours and days and weeks and months is: This Olympics was so amazing for her and our team."After the Olympics, Black stated that she will continue competing. She said, "I am very motivated to continue and build on the path I started in 2012. My first priority is to recover from injuries. This will be the focus for the next three months or so. My goal is to develop my gymnastics to the full potential, and hopefully to make more contributions on behalf of Nova Scotia and Canada."
2013
At the 2013 Summer Universiade, Black finished fourth in the all-around with a score of 55.000. In the event finals she finished fourth on vault, third on beam, and tied for second on floor.At the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Black finished thirteenth in all-around and eighth on floor exercise.
2014
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Black finished fourth with her team, and fourth in the all-around. In the event finals, Black won a gold on beam, silver on vault, bronze on floor, and she finished fourth on bars.Also in 2014, she competed at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Nanning, China. Her team placed 12th in qualifications, failing to qualify to the team final. Individually, Black qualified to the Balance Beam and all around finals. In the all around she placed 9th, the highest ever placement in a World or Olympic all-around final by a Canadian, besting compatriot Victoria Moors' 10th-place finish from the year before; Black nearly placed in the top 8, finishing only 0.001 points behind 8th-place finisher Jessica López of Venezuela. In the balance beam final, Black placed seventh after a fall while Simone Biles of the United States went on to take the gold medal ahead of Bai Yawen of China and Aliya Mustafina of Russia.
In November 2014, Black traveled to Notts Gymnastics Academy to train with Becky Downie and the rest of their elite program.
2015
In January 2015, Black competed at the Elite Canada competition, winning the beam title, which was her only event.Black competed at the 2015 AT&T American Cup in Arlington, TX on March 7, 2015 and placed 5th with an all-around score of 56.132. In May, 2015, Black won her third consecutive National All Around title with a score of 57.950.
In September 2015, Gymnastics Canada named Black to their World Championships team. She and 6 of her teammates will represent Canada at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships from October 23 to November 1.
2015 Pan Am Games
In July, Black competed at the 2015 Pan American Games which were hosted in Toronto, Canada. The Canadian team won a silver medal, and Black qualified 5th to the All Around final as well as qualifying to the vault, beam and floor finals. In the All Around Final, Black won the gold medal with a score of 58.150, becoming the first non-American woman to do so since 1983. Black won the bronze medal in the vault final with an average score of 14.087. On July 15, she won two more gold medals at event finals. the first gold of the day was in beam with a score of 15.050, one point ahead of the silver medalist, Megan Skaggs. Teammate Victoria Woo won the bronze medal with a score of 13.650. Black's second gold was on floor, where she scored 14.4.2016
Black was chosen to represent Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The team failed to qualify for the final; however, Black qualified for the individual all-around where she finished in 5th place with a score of 58.298. This was a historical result as the highest place finish for a Canadian gymnast in the women's All-Around at the Olympic Games.2017
Black suffered an injury in early 2017, causing her to not compete at the annual Elite Canada competition in February. Her first competition back was the at the Koper Slovenia World Cup, where she placed fourth on vault, second on uneven bars, second on balance beam, and second on floor.In May Black won her fourth national all-around title at the Canadian National Gymnastics Championships. Black was later named to the World Championships and Summer Universiade teams. She also won the national title on floor exercise, was the runner up on vault behind Shallon Olsen and on beam behind Isabela Onyshko, and placed sixth on uneven bars.
At the 2017 Summer Universiade, Black led the Canadian team to the silver medal behind Russia by recording the highest all-around score among all competitors in the team final. Individually, she won bronze in the all-around final behind Romanian Larisa Iordache and Japanese Asuka Teramoto. She tied with Iordache on beam and Teramoto on vault for the highest scores on those events during the final. In event finals, she won gold on beam and bronze on bars and placed fourth on vault and floor.
At the 2017 World Championships Black qualified to the all-around final in third place, the vault final in seventh, and the balance beam final in fourth. She was originally a reserve for the floor exercise final but was put in as a replacement for the injured American Ragan Smith. Black made history in the all-around final by becoming the first Canadian to win an all-around medal at a World Championships, winning the silver medal behind American Morgan Hurd. During the all-around final Black recorded the third highest score on vault, fifth highest score on uneven bars, third highest score on balance beam, and eighth highest score on floor exercise. She was the first Canadian in 11 years and only the second Canadian ever to win a medal in any event at the World Championships. During event finals Black placed fourth on vault, eighth on balance beam after a fall, and seventh on floor exercise after an out-of-bounds deduction.
2018
In February Black was named to the team to compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games alongside Shallon Olsen, Isabela Onyshko, Brittany Rogers, and Rose-Kaying Woo. While there she helped Canada win gold for the first time since the 1990 Commonwealth Games ahead of second place England in the team finals. Individually Black won gold in the all-around ahead of Georgia Godwin of Australia and Alice Kinsella of England. She also won silver on vault, behind Olsen, and placed sixth on balance beam and fourth on floor exercise.In May Black competed at the Canadian Championships where she won gold in the all-around. In September Black competed at the Paris Challenge Cup where she won silver on vault behind Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, bronze on uneven bars behind Juliette Bossu of France and Jonna Adlerteg of Sweden, gold on balance beam, and silver on floor exercise behind Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos of France.
Black was named to the team to compete at the 2018 World Championships alongside Brooklyn Moors, Ana Padurariu, Shallon Olsen, and Laurie Dénommée. While there Black helped Canada place fourth in the team final behind the United States, Russia, and China. Individually Black placed twelfth in the all-around, seventh on vault, and fifth on balance beam.
2019
Black began the 2019 competing at Elite Canada where she placed second in the all-around behind Ana Padurariu. She won gold on vault, silver on uneven bars and balance beam, once again behind Padurariu, and bronze on floor exercise behind Padurariu and Victoria-Kayen Woo. In March Black competed at the American Cup where she tied for Bronze alongside 2018 World silver medalist Mai Murakami, losing to Americans Leanne Wong and Grace McCallum. The following month Black competed at the Tokyo World Cup where she won silver behind American Morgan Hurd.In May Black competed at the Canadian National Championships. After the first day of competition she was in second, trailing Padurariu. However, after Padurariu fell off the beam on day two of the competition, Black was able to win gold, claiming her sixth national championships title. Additionally she won gold on floor exercise, silver on uneven bars behind Padurariu, and bronze on balance beam behind Brooklyn Moors and Padurariu.
In June Black was named to the team to compete at the 2019 Pan American Games alongside Padurariu, Moors, Shallon Olsen, and Victoria-Kayen Woo. There she assisted Team Canada to a second place finish in the team final. In the all-around final Black was able to defend her Pan American Games all-around title and win the gold ahead of Riley McCusker of the United States and Flávia Saraiva of Brazil. During the first day of event finals Black won gold on vault ahead of Yesenia Ferrera of Cuba and teammate Olsen and won bronze on uneven bars behind Americans McCusker and Leanne Wong to become Canada's most decorated Pan American gymnast, with nine career medals. Her five career gold medals are also a Canadian Pan Am record. The following day she won the silver medal on balance beam behind Eaker and ahead of McCusker and finished fourth on floor behind Moors, Eaker, and Saraiva. After winning five medals, including two gold, she was honoured as Canada's flag-bearer for the Games' closing ceremony.
On September 4 Black was named to the team to compete at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany alongside Ana Padurariu, Shallon Olsen, Brooklyn Moors, and Victoria Woo. During qualifications Black helped Canada place fifth, thereby qualifying Canada a team to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Individually she qualified to the all-around and balance beam finals. Black competed on all four apparatuses during the team final, helping Canada place seventh. During the individual all-around final Black finished in fourth place behind Simone Biles of the United States, Tang Xijing of China, and Angelina Melnikova of Russia with a score of 56.232, only 0.167 points behind third place. However, while competing on vault Black injured her ankle and had to withdraw from the balance beam final.