Joe Fraser (born 6 December 1998)[1] is an English artistic gymnast. He is the 2022 European all-around and parallel bars champion and the 2019 world champion on the parallel bars, the first British gymnast to ever win gold in any of these events. As a member of the British Senior team since 2017, he has also won team gold and silver, and bronze on the pommel horse, in the European Artistic Gymnastic Championships. Representing England in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Fraser won three gold medals in team, pommel horse and parallel bars.
| Joe Fraser | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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_-_DSC_4273_(cropped).jpg) Fraser at the 2022 European Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country represented |  Great Britain England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 6 December 1998 Birmingham, England, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Birmingham, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Men's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Level | Senior Elite | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years on national team | 2014–present (GBR) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | City of Birmingham GC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Lee Woolls | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Personal life edit
Fraser was born 6 December 1998 with six fingers on each hand; he had the additional digits removed as a baby.[2]
At age five, Fraser enjoyed doing flips at home; his mother, concerned about injury, sent him to a gymnastics centre to learn how to do the skills properly.[3]
When he retires, Fraser intends to become a gymnastics coach.[3]
Career edit
2017 edit
Fraser made his international senior debut in June at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.[3]
In July, he won the All-Around title at the 2017 British Championships.[4] He also won a gold medal on the high bar, silver medal on rings and bronze medal on parallel bars.[5]
Fraser also competed at the World Championships in Quebec, Canada.[6]
2018 edit
Early in the year, Fraser fell from the high bar and damaged ligaments in his ankles, making him unable to compete in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.[3] He returned to international competition at the 2018 World Challenge Cup in Guimares, Portugal.[3]
At the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Fraser won a silver as part of the team.[7]
Fraser also competed at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.[6]
2019 edit
In March 2019, Fraser won a silver medal on the high bar and bronze medal on parallel bars at the British Championships. At the 2019 European Championships in Szczecin, Poland, Fraser narrowly missed out on a bronze medal by 0.033 marks in the all-around final.[8]
In October, Fraser won gold at the Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany for his performance on the parallel bars with a score 15.000.[6] He was the youngest competitor on the apparatus and his win was Great Britain's first gold medal on the apparatus.[9]
2021 edit
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Fraser competed for Great Britain. The team, consisting of Max Whitlock, James Hall, Giarnni Regini-Moran and Fraser, took fourth place with a score of 255.76. Fraser then continued to compete in the Olympics at Tokyo and qualified for the individual all round final where he came 9th in his debut games.[10]
2022 edit
At the British Championships Fraser won the all-around title. Fraser next competed at the Baku World Cup. He advanced to the parallel bars and horizontal bar finals and was a reserve athlete for pommel horse. During the parallel bars final he won bronze medal behind Illia Kovtun from Ukraine and Ferhat Arican from Turkey. The next day he won gold on the horizontal bar.[11]
Despite being hampered by an ankle injury sustained only two weeks before the Commonwealth Games, Fraser was able to compete on four apparatus and contribute to the England team's successful defence of their Commonwealth title.[12][13][14] Fraser also went on to take gold in both the pommel horse and parallel bars. In the former, he beat 2018 champion Rhys McClenaghan while in the latter, he beat compatriot Giarnni Regini-Moran.[15][16]
Fraser won the all-around at the European Championships ahead of Adem Asil and Ahmet Önder. Additionally, he qualified to the pommel horse and parallel bars finals, and helped Great Britain qualify to the team final.[17]
References edit
- ^ "Joe Fraser". British Gymnastics.
- ^ Broadbent, Rick (18 October 2019). "Joe Fraser aiming to be the best bar none". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "FRASER Joe - FIG Athlete Profile". FIG Gymnastics. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ "Gymnastics British Championships 2017". British Gymnastics. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ "Joe Fraser and Ellie Downie take 2017 British all-around titles". British Gymnastics. 25 March 2017. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ a b c "Artistic Gymnastics FRASER Joe". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ "High bar falls cost British gymnasts as Russia takes European team gold". ESPN. 11 August 2018.
- ^ "Joe Fraser 4th and James Hall 7th in European all-around final". British Gymnastics. 12 April 2019.
- ^ "World Gymnastics Championships: Joe Fraser wins Britain's first parallel bars gold". BBC Sport. 13 October 2019.
- ^ "Artistic Gymnastics - Final Results". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ "Kovtun's fourth consecutive title leads Ukraine to distinction at Baku World Cup". International Gymnastics Federation. 4 April 2022.
- ^ "Men's Team Final" (PDF). Birmingham 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ "Commonwealth Games: England win landmark third team gymnastics gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
- ^ "Joe Fraser inspires England to team gymnastics gold". Birmingham 2022.
- ^ "Men's Pommel Horse Medalists" (PDF). Birmingham 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ "Men's Parallel Bars Medalists" (PDF). Birmingham 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ "2022 European Championships results". European Gymnastics. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
External links edit
- Joe Fraser at British Gymnastics
- Joe Fraser at the International Gymnastics Federation
- Joe Fraser at Olympedia
- Joe Fraser at Team GB
- Joe Fraser on Twitter
- Joe Fraser on Instagram
- Joe Fraser on Facebook
