Heath Thorpe (born 3 September 2000) is an Australian artistic gymnast. He made his World Championships debut at the

2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Liverpool, United Kingdom at the Liverpool Arena, from 29 October to 6 November 2022. The United Kingdom previously hosted this event in 1993 (Birmingham), 2009 (London) and 2015 (Gla ...

. He was a reserve athlete for the Australian team at the

2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was the 48th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from October 25 – November 3, 2018, at the Aspire Academy Dome in Doha, Qatar. It was the first tim ...

, and represented his country at the

2019 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 118 , Athletes participating = 5,971 , Events = 220 , Sports = 18 , Opening ceremony = 3 July , Closing ceremony = 14 July , Officially opened by = President Se ...

. He advanced to the vault final at the 2019 Universiade where he finished sixth. Thorpe is a member of Men's Artistic Gymnastics Australian National Squad (2017–Present).

Personal life

Thorpe studies at the Queensland University of Technology where he is pursuing a degree in communications. He currently resides in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. He is openly gay.

Gymnastics career

2018 Thorpe made his international debut as a junior at the 2018 RD761 Junior International Team Cup, where he placed third in the vault final. Thorpe then went on to make his senior international debut at the

2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships The 2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships is the fifteenth edition of the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships. The competition was held on April 27–29, 2018 at the Coliseo Iván de Bedout in Medellín, Colombia. Background The 2018 editi ...

in April and qualified to the vault final, to finish fourth. Thorpe competed at the 2018 Australian Gymnastics Championships and placed first on floor. In October,

Gymnastics Australia Gymnastics Australia (GA) is the governing body for the sport of gymnastics in Australia. History Gymnastics in Australia is thought to have originated in the early 20th century by eastern European immigrants. It wasn't until after World War I ...

announced Thorpe to the

team. Whilst in Doha, Thorpe was announced as the alternate for the team and did not compete in the event. 2019 In February, Thorpe was announced to compete at the Individual Apparatus Artistic Gymnastics World Cup taking place in Melbourne, despite having had surgery to remove screws from his elbow just eight weeks prior to the event. Thorpe competed at the 2019 Australian Gymnastics Championships, finishing sixth all around, second on floor and third on vault in the senior international competition. Thorpe was announced to represent his country at the

in Naples, Italy. Thorpe went on to qualify to the event finals, placing sixth in the vault final. 2021-2022 Thorpe missed out on qualifying for the Oceania quota spot for the Tokyo Olympic Games following a subpar performance at a National Team Camp in April. Despite this, Thorpe competed and finished third all around at the 2021 Australian Gymnastics Championships, hosted on the Gold Coast, in May. His success in the all around was accompanied by a first place in the team event and a second place finish on horizontal bar. Due to a hamstring injury, he could not compete in floor and vault finals, where he finished first place on both apparatus during the all around competition on day 1. Thorpe competed in Bundesliga fo
TG Allgäu
in Germany throughout September and October of 2021. This was his first professional competitive season. Thorpe also went on to compete in the Wase GymCup in Belgium under the Australian flag where he placed first on floor, horizontal bar and second on vault.

2023

In May, Thorpe won his first all-around title at the 2023 Australian Gymnastics Championships at the

Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre is a multi-purpose arena and sports facility located at Carrara on Queensland's Gold Coast in Australia, capable of seating 5,000 fans. The centre is located adjacent to the Carrara Indoor Stadium and forms p ...

in Carrara, Queensland. Despite this, he was not named to the Australian team for the

2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Antwerp, Belgium at the Sportpaleis, from 30 September to 8 October 2023. Antwerp hosted the event for the third time; previously the city hosted the first ever World Championships in ...

Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Eponymous skill

In 2022, Thorpe submitted a request to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to allow leaps to be added to the Code of Points for Men's Artistic Gymnastics. The request was denied by FIG.

Competitive history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe, Heath 2000 births Living people Australian male artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Brisbane LGBT gymnasts Australian gay sportsmen Competitors at the 2019 Summer Universiade Sportsmen from Queensland