Craig Heap
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Craig Heap
OR:
Craig Heap on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Craig Heap (born 10 July 1973) is a retired
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 ...
Gold medal winning
gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...
, who has represented England over 100 times in various international gymnastic competitions, including at the
2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
. He has been the English and British champion, as well as the Captain on many occasions. He was born in
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
attending Heasandford Primary School and Barden High Schoo


History

Heap began as a gymnast when he was just nine years old, after his parents took him to classes out of simple desperation, as he was very hyperactive as a child, in an interview with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
he stated;
I was a bit of a tearaway as a kid, always jumping over the sofas and racing around the yard. My sister Nicola used to go to gym classes and one day my mum said: 'Instead of leaping over the furniture, get yourself down to the gym with your sister.
After progressing as a junior gymnast, Heap eventually became professional and trained full time though he struggled for money as the grants from
Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...
were not vast sums of money nor was much money generated through
sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
. A series of injuries only helped to exacerbate his financial shortfalls, as long periods out meant even less money. Heap had many such injuries throughout his career, undergoing five operations on his left
elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...
, surgery to both
shoulders The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...
, calves, shins, an
ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...
and a
wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known as the carp ...
. Since retiring from gymnastics, Heap has taken a more media related role, appearing on '' Blue Peter'', ''
They Think It's All Over "They think it's all over" is a quote from Kenneth Wolstenholme's BBC TV commentary in the closing moments of the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, when England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time to win the FIFA World Cup. In the final few seco ...
'', '' Simply the Best'' and commentating for the BBC on gymnastics, as well as visiting schools around the United Kingdom. In January 2007, Heap received the backing of
Gordon Prentice Gordon Prentice (born 28 January 1951) is a British former politician of the Labour Party who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pendle in Lancashire from 1992 to 2010. Early life He was educated at the independent George Heriot's School i ...
, MP for Pendle, to build a specialist gymnastic centre for the 2012 Summer Olympics.


References


External links


Official site
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heap, Craig 1973 births Living people British male artistic gymnasts Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Gymnasts at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Gymnasts at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Burnley Commonwealth Games medallists in gymnastics Olympic gymnasts of Great Britain 21st-century British people Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games