Rebecca Mason, born April 1st 1986, has a phenomenal record in British gymnastics. Becky grew up in Hartford, near Northwich in Cheshire, and started gym at the age of 5. Like many British gymnasts, she comes from a sporty family. Her dad, Paul, played football for top non-league sides such as Northwich Victoria. Becky’s gymnastics career took off under the guidance of Pete Aldous at Sandbach GC in South Cheshire. Despite numerous injuries as a youngster, Rebecca absolutely dominated the 1986 age group. In 1995 she trounced the field to win her first national title at age 9, and in the years that followed she went on to become British champion in the 10-year-old and 11-year-old age groups, thus completing an unprecedented hat trick. This was an outstanding achievement, not least because the 1986 crop included future stars such as Rebecca Owen. Mason continued her remarkable winning streak as a first-year Espoir in 1998, beating future world medallist Beth Tweddle to the British all-around crown. The next year, however, she had to settle for silver after handing gold to Becky Owen with some uncharacteristic mistakes. This was the first time in Mason’s career that she had failed to win a national title! Normal service resumed in 2000 when Becky topped both Owen and Tweddle to win the British junior crown at her first attempt. By the age of 14 years and 3 months she had been national champion at every possible level except senior.

Rebecca’s prodigious domestic form meant that she quickly came into the frame for international selection. She represented the British junior team at the Honeywell International in 1996, when aged just 10, and won her first overseas gold shortly before her twelfth birthday, topping the AA standings in a three-way junior match versus Sweden and Finland in Malmo. Over the next few years, Becky competed in numerous internationals, clocking up tens of thousands of air miles in the process. She took part in the prestigious Canberra Cup at the age of just 12, and was selected with Beth Tweddle to attend a BOA ‘Olympic Futures’ multi-sport training camp in Florida. 2000 was a particularly successful year that began with the Junior Europeans in Paris. Becky finished equal 9th in the all-around, beating the likes of Verona Van de Leur to match the then British record placing. She went on to represent England at the Millennium Commonwealth Youth Games, coming 4th AA, and triumphed at the ‘Olympic Hopefuls’ (Cefta Cup) competition in the Czech Republic. Rebecca was undoubtedly Britain’s brightest young star and our biggest hope going into the new Olympic cycle.

Sadly, however, the Cefta Cup was to be Becky’s last victory for 2½ years as her rise to the top was halted by a succession of injuries that kept her off the scene until mid-2002. An 18-month injury lay-off is extremely long and worrying for any athlete, but for a young gymnast at such a crucial stage of her career this was particularly serious. Many feared that Becky might never return to the top of her sport. However, they should have known better than to underestimate her determination. She made her big comeback at the 2002 British championships where she placed 4th all-around and won bronze on her favourite piece, bars, despite only being able to present a very limited programme. Happily, after a few months working on her routines, Becky was back firing on all cylinders in 2003. She represented GB with considerable success in various internationals and was crowned senior English all-around champion before heading to the British, where she became senior all-around vice-champion and senior bars co-champion. Becky was a shoo-in for the 2003 world championships team. As GB’s top all-around scorer in Anaheim, she made the single biggest contribution to the team’s surprisingly successful Olympic qualifying bid and only narrowly missed out on the individual all-around and beam finals. Unfortunately, a wrist injury requiring surgery has disrupted the start of her 2004 season.

Becky has one sister who is two years her junior. She now lives in Sandbach and trains both at her home club and the Lilleshall National Sports Centre. In her spare time she enjoys swimming, shopping, “chilling” and listening to music (preferably pop). Her idol is Russian bars legend Svetlana Khorkina. Rebecca is known for the style and precision of her gymnastics, as well as for her remarkable work ethic and gutsy approach to the sport. Her best pieces are bars and beam. Injury prevented Becky from achieving a long-standing ambition to compete in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. However, since regaining fitness, she has fought her way onto the Athens 2004 squad, and her Olympic dream remains very much alive. She also might yet complete her set of British titles, which would be a wonderful story as well as an historic achievement!

 

Last updated: May 2004                                                                           Photos © Sarah Kirby