A man from Suffolk says judging at the Olympics in Paris was a dream come true

He was selected as one of the top 11 judges in the world.

Paris, France. 02nd Aug, 2024. Olympics, Paris 2024, gymnastics, trampoline, individual, men, qualification, Fabian Vogel from Germany in action. Credit: Marijan Murat/dpa/Alamy Live News
Author: Jasmine OakPublished 23rd Aug 2024

A man from Suffolk says being a judge at the Olympics was magical.

Andrew Jones is a international trampoline gymnastics judge from Claydon, he began taking part in gymnastics at around 14 years old and as he progressed into various competitions he decided he wanted to become a judge.

"I was really curious to know how the trampoline scores were arrived at... I always wondered why certain scores were given to certain performances.

"So to help my own development, I really wanted to know and I was really interested in that. And then I went to do my first judge course and I was hooked."

His passion for judging grew quickly and he completed as many qualifications as possible before becoming an international judge.

Andrew has been a judge at senior trampolining events; World Cups; World Championships and European Championships all on behalf of Great Britain.

Because of this and his qualification he was selected to be on the judging panel for Great Britain at the Trampolining event in Paris - meaning he's one of the 11 top judges in the world.

He noted that "it took a village" of people supporting him to get to this position and felt that he was " flying the flag for them".

We asked him about the moment he found out he had been selected to go to Paris.

He told us he muttered a few "naughty words" under his breath.

"I couldn't quite believe it. I had to check the message three or four times, to make sure...is this really happening?

"..when you start out in your judging career, this is what everybody aspires and dreams to."

We also asked what it was like to judge the athletes who have worked so hard to reach this position.

" I think that does weigh heavily on you when you're selected. But I think it's really important on the day that you go out and don't think too hard about that because it can make a difference...

"Our job is to make sure that we do the best job we can be the most accurate we can."

Another difficulty Andrew faced was the trampolining world being rather small, meaning he knew some of the people competing including Bryony Page, having worked with her before.

She ended up achieving Gold for Team GB.

"On the outside, I was playing the role. I was a judge and obviously I was trying to be very calm and very impartial because when you're selected, you're selected to be an impartial judge, not representing your country.

"But obviously inside I was a bag of emotions and I really wanted to express that, but obviously you can't. So I was a bit like a swan on the outside, very calm, very peaceful, but under the water, my emotions were going haywire."

Something that took Andrew by surprise was just the amount of noise the crowd made.

"Nothing quite prepares you for the support and noise of the crowd in the arena on the day. It was amazing because they supported every athlete from every federation."

Whilst in Paris Andrew made sure to take full advantage and saw the sites.

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