Christopher Remkes is an Australian gymnast who has competed at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

Early life

An orphan, Christopher Remkes's date of birth is listed as 3 September 1996. According to the orphanage that took care of him, he was abandoned as a two-day-old in a hospital in

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidenta ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. At two years old, Christopher Remkes was adopted by Mike and Dora Remkes who brought him to Australia. He spent his childhood in Happy Valley, a suburb of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and started getting involved in gymnastics at the age of five. He has an adoptive brother and sister who were adopted from

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. He tried playing other sports but eventually focused in gymnastics. For his primary education, Remkes attended Aberfoyle Park and later Ascot Park which maintains a specialist gymnastics program. Remkes also went to

Hamilton Secondary College Hamilton Secondary College (formerly Mitchell Park Boys Technical College) resides in Mitchell Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The school provides secondary education from year 7 to 12, an Adult campus for mature-age students and a ...

before moving to the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

in 2015.

Career

Remkes competed at the

in the men's vault event. He managed to win a gold for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, ending a 24-year Commonwealth Games drought for his adopted nation in the event since Bret Hudson won a gold in the vault event For Australia at the

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, ...

. After his Commonwealth stint, Remkes has expressed his goal of competing in the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. However, he tore his ACL at the 2019 World Cup competition in Doha and although he was recovered enough to be on Australia's 2020 World Cup Team, he was not chosen for the Olympics team, which had only one slot for Men's Artistic Gymnastics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Remkes, Christopher 1996 births People from Bacolod Sportspeople from Adelaide Australian people of Filipino descent Filipino adoptees Australian male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in gymnastics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Living people Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from South Australia