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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. He is the first British gymnast to ever win gold in these events, and the third British world champion (following Beth Tweddle and Max Whitlock). 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 the team, pommel horse and parallel bars events.

Joe Fraser
Personal information
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Born (1998-12-06) 6 December 1998 (age 25)
Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
ResidenceBirmingham, England
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior Elite
Years on national team2014–present (GBR)
ClubCity of Birmingham GC
Head coach(es)Lee Woolls
Medal record
Men's artistic gymnastics
Representing  Great Britain
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Stuttgart Parallel Bars
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Liverpool Team
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2022 Munich Team
Gold medal – first place 2022 Munich All-Around
Gold medal – first place 2022 Munich Parallel Bars
Silver medal – second place 2018 Glasgow Team
Silver medal – second place 2024 Rimini Team
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Basel Pommel Horse
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Team
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Pommel Horse
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Parallel Bars

Personal life

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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

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2017

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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]

2024

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At the 2024 European Championships Fraser helped Great Britain finish second as a team behind Ukraine. In June of that year he was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2024 Summer Olympics alongside Jake Jarman, Harry Hepworth, Luke Whitehouse, and Max Whitlock.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Joe Fraser". British Gymnastics.
  2. ^ Broadbent, Rick (18 October 2019). "Joe Fraser aiming to be the best bar none". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e "FRASER Joe - FIG Athlete Profile". FIG Gymnastics. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Gymnastics British Championships 2017". British Gymnastics. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  5. ^ "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.
  6. ^ a b c "Artistic Gymnastics FRASER Joe". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  7. ^ "High bar falls cost British gymnasts as Russia takes European team gold". ESPN. 11 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Joe Fraser 4th and James Hall 7th in European all-around final". British Gymnastics. 12 April 2019.
  9. ^ "World Gymnastics Championships: Joe Fraser wins Britain's first parallel bars gold". BBC Sport. 13 October 2019.
  10. ^ "Artistic Gymnastics - Final Results". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  11. ^ "Kovtun's fourth consecutive title leads Ukraine to distinction at Baku World Cup". International Gymnastics Federation. 4 April 2022.
  12. ^ "Men's Team Final" (PDF). Birmingham 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  13. ^ "Commonwealth Games: England win landmark third team gymnastics gold". BBC Sport. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  14. ^ "Joe Fraser inspires England to team gymnastics gold". Birmingham 2022. 29 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Men's Pommel Horse Medalists" (PDF). Birmingham 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  16. ^ "Men's Parallel Bars Medalists" (PDF). Birmingham 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  17. ^ "2022 European Championships results". European Gymnastics. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  18. ^ "And your Team GB Paris 2024 gymnasts are..." British Gymnastics. 13 June 2024.
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