Joe Fraser (born 6 December 1998) 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 Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars slightly over long and positioned at roughly head height. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally we ...

, 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 The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

, Fraser won three gold medals in

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interde ...

pommel horse The pommel horse is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, the modern pommel horse has a metal body covered with foam rubber and ...

and

Personal life

Fraser was born 6 December 1998 with six fingers on each hand; he had the additional digits removed as a baby. 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. When he retires, Fraser intends to become a gymnastics coach.

Career

2017

Fraser made his international senior debut in June at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In July, he won the All-Around title at the 2017 British Championships. He also won a gold medal on the high bar, silver medal on rings and bronze medal on parallel bars. Fraser also competed at the World Championships in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada.

2018

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 Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, QLD, Australia. He returned to international competition at the 2018 World Challenge Cup in Guimares, Portugal. At the

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Fraser won a silver as part of the team. Fraser also competed at the World Championships in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, Qatar.

2019

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 Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

, Poland, Fraser narrowly missed out on a bronze medal by 0.033 marks in the all-around final. In October, Fraser won gold at the Gymnastics World Championships in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany for his performance on the parallel bars with a score 15.000. He was the youngest competitor on the apparatus and his win was Great Britain's first gold medal on the apparatus.

2021

At 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 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan, Fraser competed for Great Britain. The team, consisting of

Max Whitlock Max Antony Whitlock (born 13 January 1993) is a British artistic gymnast. With fourteen medals and six titles in Olympic and world championships, Whitlock is the most successful gymnast in his nation's history, and the most successful pommel h ...

, James Hall,

Giarnni Regini-Moran Giarnni Regini-Moran (born 2 August 1998) is a British artistic gymnast representing Great Britain and England internationally. He is the 2022 world champion on floor exercise (the second British world floor champion after Beth Tweddle and the ...

and Fraser, took fourth place with a score of 255.76. Fraser then continued to compete in the Olympics at

and qualified for the individual all round final where he came 9th in his debut games.

2022

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 Illia Yuriyovych Kovtun ( uk, Ілля Юрійович Ковтун; born 10 August 2003) is a Ukrainian artistic gymnast who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games. He is the 2021 World and European all-around bronze medalist, and is a two-time ...

from Ukraine and Ferhat Arican from Turkey. The next day he won gold on the horizontal bar. Despite being hampered by an ankle injury sustained only two weeks before the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, Fraser was able to compete on four apparatus and contribute to the England team's successful defence of their

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

title. Fraser also went on to take gold in both the

and

. In the former, he beat 2018 champion

Rhys McClenaghan Rhys Joshua McClenaghan (born 21 July 1999) is a Northern Irish artistic gymnast competing internationally for both Northern Ireland and Ireland. He is the 2022 world champion on pommel horse, the first Irish artistic gymnast ever to win world ...

while in the latter, he beat compatriot

. Fraser won the all-around at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

ahead of

Adem Asil Adem Asil (né: Abdelrahman Elgamal ( ar, عبد الرحمن الجمل); born 21 February 1999) is an Egyptian-born Turkish male artistic gymnast. He represented Turkey at the 2020 Olympic Games and is the 2022 World Champion on still rings. ...

and Ahmet Önder. Additionally, he qualified to the pommel horse and parallel bars finals, and helped Great Britain qualify to the team final.

References

External links

Joe Fraser
at British Gymnastics * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Joe 1998 births Living people British male artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands Black British sportsmen World champion gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Great Britain Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Gymnasts at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in gymnastics European champions in gymnastics Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games