A talented teenage Tavistock athlete has been chosen for the Paris Olympics GB Gymnastics squad as a reserve and is now in the team’s training camp in Reims, France.

Ruby Stacey, 19, a member of Plymouth Swallows Gymnastics Club, said: “I am so proud to announce that I have been selected as a reserve for the Olympic Games. Just to be a part of this journey and to be supporting the best group of girls is honestly a dream. I will be forever grateful. I am ready to smash the next few weeks at camp with the team.

“I can only say a massive thank you to British Gymnastics for this opportunity and the privilege to be a part of the team with an amazing group of girls Also a huge thank you to my coach Jemma Maskell and all the team at Plymouth Swallows for their constant support.

Ruby joined Plymouth Swallows at the tender age of three. She progressed to the Devon Squad and then to the South West Squad. At the age of ten she took her first steps towards competing nationally when she was named English Espoir champion. Gymnasts aged 12-13 years old take part in this competition and compete on vault, bars, beam and floor as well as completing a range and conditioning exercise.

Ruby was then runner-up at the British Gymnastics championship, because of these results she was selected to join the British Gymnastics Development Squad. This meant travelling to Lilleshall National Sports Centre for training with top coaches. The following year she was selected to the junior squad and then became a member of the senior squad.

Her first international selection was in 2018 at the Olympic Hopes Competition in the Czech Republic. She achieved three medals, including a gold medal for her uneven bars. The highlight of her career as a first year senior was representing GB in the world championships in Japan. Ruby competed on all four pieces and reached fifteenth.

Her mother Alison said: “This was a very strange time as Japan did not allow any spectators and the gymnasts had to travel to and from the gym and were unable to leave the hotel.”

Another highlight of her career was competing in Koper in Slovenia where she achieved her first bronze world class medal for her bars routine. In March Ruby became the British silver bar medalist for her uneven bar routine.

After A-levels at Tavistock College Ruby joined coaching company Optimum Coaching and Education, becoming an ambassador at primary schools and is a trainee coach for Ben Jones.

She coaches the younger gymnasts at Plymouth Swallows. Her aim is selection for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.