Joe Fraser: What it’s really like to win a gold medal at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games?

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games?

Well local gymnast Joe Fraser knows exactly what’s needed to do just that. The 23-year-old, who grew up in Edgbaston, won his third gold medal of the Games in the men’s artistic gymnastics parallel bars final on Tuesday (2 August).

Although Fraser, who also had designs on four gold medals having entered the final day with team and pommel golds in the bag, experienced mixed emotions as he followed his parallel-bars victory – in which Regini-Moran placed second again – by crashing off the horizontal bar midway through his final routine.

Nevertheless, Joe expressed pride at his performances in front of his home-city crowd, after a torrid build-up which saw him hospitalised with a ruptured appendix before suffering a fractured foot in training that had left his participation at the Games in doubt.

Joe also hailed his “wonderkid” team-mate Jake Jarman after the England duo wrapped up their artistic gymnastics campaign with a glittering seven-gold total haul on the concluding day of apparatus finals at a sold-out Arena Birmingham. Jarman’s soaring triumph in the vault final made him the first English athlete to win four gold medals at the same Games since shooter Mick Gault in 1998, whilst Fraser, nursing a fractured foot, added to his previous success with a dominant display on the parallel bars.

Fraser said: “Jake is the wonderkid – he’s the future of our sport and I’m so proud of everything he’s achieved.

“It’s just beginning for Jake – the potential the guy has is unmatched, and having him on the team will be a huge asset moving forward.”

What’s it like winning gold in your home town?

After winning gold once again, Joe said: “It was electric in there you know, having a Birmingham crowd and being from Birmingham I was just proud to deliver the routines I did in front of my home crowd and friends and family. Being with my team, it was just amazing out there, and walking away with a gold medal I couldn’t be prouder of any of us.

“It’s nuts, I couldn’t be prouder, i’m just really really happy.”

James Hall, who took home a silver medal for Team England, added: “For the first time with crowds since the 2019 World Championships for me, we did the Olympics and it as incredible - but fro that and coming into a crowd - it felt like there were 100,000 people in there, it was unreal. It was unbelievable.”

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. BirminghamWorld is Birmingham’s latest news website, championing everything that is great about our city - reporting on news, lifestyle and sport. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going.