Dog days aren’t over: Aussie gymnast’s balancing act

Joanna Guelas | July 16, 2026

Australian gymnast Georgia Godwin knows all about finding balance.

So it’s apt that Godwin is facing the “biggest juggling acts” of her life as she aims to defend her Commonwealth Games titles in Glasgow.

In piecing together her comeback from a traumatic Achilles injury, Godwin has also balanced training with university studies in medical imaging and looking after her border collie, Remy.

While she’ll readily admit she’s spread herself pretty thin, the 28-year-old – Australia’s equal-most decorated artistic gymnast – said building her life outside the gym kept her grounded during her rehabilitation.

Adopting Remy after tearing her Achilles just three months before the 2024 Paris Olympics, Godwin says her dog was the only reason she would get out of bed on her darkest days.

Godwin had stolen the headlines in 2022 after winning individual all-around and vault gold in Birmingham.

Already boasting three 2018 Gold Coast Games medals, Godwin also won uneven bars, balance beam and team all-around silver.

She joined Allana Slater as the nation’s only artistic gymnasts to have claimed eight Commonwealth Games medals, and also became the fifth Australian to have an original move – on the uneven bars – named in her honour.

Now two years on since her injury and in the UK for her final Games preparation, a rejuvenated Godwin has trusted Remy with a friend in Canberra.

“I miss him already, but it definitely makes it easier knowing he’s in such good hands,” Godwin told AAP.

“I had 10 weeks of full-time university content followed by five weeks of placement, all while juggling training, camps, competitions, work, life and looking after Remy.

“I definitely stretched myself a little too thin and paid the price mentally, physically and emotionally.

“It’s definitely been one of the biggest juggling acts I’ve had.”

Godwin heads to Glasgow after competing at the national championships in Sydney earlier this month.

She finished second behind Games teammate Breanna Scott and took out gold on vault in her first all-around competition in 815 days.

But Godwin admits fear around her Achilles injury still lingers.

She had suffered a full rupture of the tendon in her left foot doing a round-off flick double pike while training a floor routine – a skill she has since removed from her program.

“I’ve never had an injury as acute as a rupture,” Godwin said.

“I’ve had a lot of stress reactions, but that’s like over a long period of time, so it’s not like one skill that is kind of linked to the injury.

“So having a tumble on floor and it’s linked to my Achilles, it just really messes with you.

“This injury has taught me that I have nothing to prove.

“For me, coming back, once I was over all the initial trauma, physically, mentally and emotionally, I’ve really taken a different approach to training.

“And I’m doing this because I get to do this. I’m doing this because I love to do it.”

Godwin and Scott form Australia’s five-strong women’s team with Kate McDonald, Ruby Pass and Emily Whitehead.

Jesse Moore, who competed at the Paris Olympics as well as in Birmingham, leads the men’s squad featuring four debutants: Benjamin Foster, Tru Hagens, James Hardy and Ritam Malik.