Godwin (pictured) suffered the agony of a ruptured Achilles tendon in May 2024, which kept her out of the Olympic Games in Paris and put her career in jeopardy.

But in her first major international competition since, she teamed up with Emily Whitehead, Ruby Pass, Breanna Scott and Kate McDonald to clinch Australia's first Team title since Delhi 2010, with a total of 158.400.

It gave Godwin her ninth Commonwealth medal to overtake Allana Slater as her nation’s most decorated women's gymnast at the Commonwealth Games.

“It’s been an incredibly long journey over the last two and a half years and it’s not been easy,” an emotional Godwin said.

“It’s taken an absolute village (to return). My biggest goal was to get back and finish the sport on my own terms.

“To come away with gold with this amazing team and to celebrate it with my family, my friends, my coach and everyone watching back home - I just couldn’t have asked for a better comeback.

“We came into this just wanting to have fun because that is when we do our best performances and we really kept that energy up," the 28-year-old said.

“When we had little slip ups here and there, we got around each other and we saw it to the end.”

Canada took silver on 157.300 with the experienced Elsabeth Black also topping the All-Around qualification ahead of Ruby Evans (WAL) and Australia’s Scott and Godwin.

“I’m just excited and proud to be back competing,” Black said after appearing at her third Commonwealth Games.

"I really enjoyed being back on Vault. I’m proud to be with this amazing team and just experience the Commonwealth Games again and have some fun while doing it.

“But you obviously want to show up and do well for your country." 

Crowd inspires England to bronze

England overtook Wales for bronze with 154.300 to finish 0.900 clear of their neighbours.

"I knew it was going to be tight. I’ve never heard my team scream that loud for my Floor routine,” said Abigail Martin (ENG), whose score of 13.250 also left her as top qualifier for the Floor Exercise final.

"It may not be the best score that I’ve ever scored but that was definitely the best performance I’ve done. All I could hear was the crowd and the team and they got me through it."

Elsewhere, there was finally a Commonwealth Games debut for New Zealand's Courtney McGregor, who missed out on Glasgow 2014 through injury before moving away from elite competition for five years.

The 27-year-old qualified for the All-Around final and the Vault final and is enjoying her return.

“This time around it’s so different,” McGregor said. “I can just enjoy it and the Games atmosphere. When I was younger, gymnastics was kind of my whole life, and this time around it's just a fun thing that I get to do. 

“I'm a lot more grateful and enjoy it a lot more than when I was younger. I didn't always have the most positive experiences because I was taking it so seriously, and I think when you're younger you feel a bit more pressure. 

“This time around I have a bit more perspective, so it's been so cool." 

For the full schedule and results for Artistic Gymnastics, presented by Longines, click here.