“I don’t really like looking at it,” the soft-spoken Burrows said of the poster she trains beneath. She adds, smiling, “I hate looking at myself doing gym.” Until about four years ago, Burrows didn’t want to go to the Olympics, having thought like so many critics of the sport that the training wouldn’t be worth the reward. “As gyms changed a bit from being very demanding, it’s made you realise actually it might be fun to go to the Olympics and not ‘oh my god, that would be so horrible to have to train for that’, which is what I used to think.” There’s an eight-year plan for Burrows to compete at Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032, though there is an understanding she can leave the sport at any time. “It’s all I know,” Burrows said. “I like routine. I like the familiarity of gym. I’ve come this far, I don’t see why I would stop this close to getting somewhere. It’s also a very satisfying sport to do. Every day has some kind of win.” When her coach Skye Benson opened Sydney Academy, she didn’t intend to coach Olympic hopefuls, in part due to the demands placed on gymnasts at that level. As the sport shifted away from an emphasis on success at any cost to prioritising the athlete, and Burrows expressed a desire to represent Australia, Benson agreed to support her.