This is Part 2 of my blog about the World Gymnastics Championships.
Check out Part 1 to find out why this World Championships is so important and take a look at the ten-day competition schedule highlighting the most important parts of each day.
Meet The Team!
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MAG
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WAG
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Max Whitlock
Nile Wilson
Brinn Bevan
Kristian Thomas
Louis Smith MBE
Daniel Purvis
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Rebecca Downie
Ellie Downie
Claudia Fragapane
Amy Tinkler
Ruby Harrold
Kelly Simm
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It was a privilege to train and compete alongside some of these gymnasts during my career as a GB Women’s Artistic Gymnast.
This blog focuses on Women’s Artistic Gymnastics so I thought it would be nice to introduce you to them with these mini profiles-
Amy Tinkler
Age- 15 (But her 16th birthday will be during the championships!)
Club- South Durham
Check Out- Her power on every event. Her Floor routine includes a double straight somersault with a full twist, and her Beam routine connection is a gainer layout, immediate layout!
Past Achievements- 2015 Senior English All Around and Beam Champion, 2015 Senior British All Around and Floor Champion.
Fun Facts-
- Amy’s club gym equipment is almost entirely pink
- Her mum is a coach so she started gymnastics when she was just 2 years old, and has been representing Great Britain since the age of 11
A first year Senior, this will be Amy’s debut World Championships. She will be looking to gain valuable experience on the world stage, ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games as well as enjoying the chance to showcase her strong routines and help the team qualify.
Claudia Fragapane
Age- 17 (But her 18th birthday will be during the championships!)
Club- Bristol Hawkes
Check Out- Her jam-packed Floor routine and lively choreography!
Past Achievements-
2014 Commonwealth All Around, Team, Vault and Floor Champion, 2015 European Team and Floor Silver medalist
Fun Facts-
- At just 4ft 6 inches Claudia is nicknamed the “Pocket Rocket”
- In 2014 she was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year
Claudia (That’s pronounced "cloud-ee-a" not claw-dee-uh) competed in the same arena in Glasgow last year, where she became the first English woman to win 4 gold medals in a single Commonwealth Games in 84 years. The familiar setting should help her feel right at home as she performs in her second World Championships.
Ellie Downie
Age- 16
Club- Notts
Check out- Her huge double twisting yurchenko Vault as well as her standing Arabian somersault and Patterson dismount on Beam!
Past Achievements- 2014 Junior European Vault Champion, 2015 British Championships Bronze AA, 2015 European Championships Bronze AA
Fun Facts-
- Ellie was the first British gymnast ever to perform the Patterson (or ‘Double Arabian’) Beam dismount
- She once tried out for the GB canoeing team
Ellie is also a first year Senior gymnast, yet has been competing for Great Britain for a number of years at the Espoir and Junior Levels. She proved she knows how to handle the Senior level pressure when she became the first British gymnast ever to medal individually in the all around competition, at the Senior European Championships, earlier this year. She’ll be looking forward to executing her routines on her first World Championships stage and pleasing the home crowd.
Ruby Harrold
Age- 19
Club- The Academy
Check out- Her unique and fast-paced high to low releases on Bars!
Past Achievements- 2014 European Team Silver medalist, 2014 Commonwealth Team Champion, Silver AA, Bronze Bars, 11
th AA at the 2014 World Championships, 2015 World Challenge Cup Bars Champion
Fun Facts-
- Ruby was a reserve for the 2012 Olympic Games
- In the future she plans to move to America to become an NCAA student-athlete competing for Louisiana State University
Ruby is a mature leader who will bring a great deal of determination, confidence and experience to Glasgow. She’ll be focusing on the team first, and making sure GB finish in the top 8 to qualify for the Olympics, before shifting her attention towards topping her current personal best achievements such as her 11
th place finish in the all around at the 2014 World Championships.
Becky Downie
Age- 23
Club- Notts
Check out- Her Bars and Beam routines, which are both filled with spectacular flight skills, often connected together!
Past Achievements- 2008 Olympic AA finalist, 2014 European Bars Champion and Team Silver medalist, 2014 Commonwealth Bars and Team Champion, 2014 World Bars Finalist- 5th, 2015 European Bars and Beam Silver medalist
Fun Facts-
- She loves fashion, shopping, and playing with her pet kittens!
- She has her own skill on the Bars which is officially called “The Downie” after her
This will be Becky’s 6
th World Championships. The 7-time British Champion, and multiple international medalist has always been a rock for Great Britain. Her strong leadership skills and qualities as a team player mean she will be doing her best to help out her teammates in any way she can, to ensure Olympic qualification victory, while she aims for apparatus finals and medals herself.
Kelly Simm
Age- 20
Club- Dynamo
Check out- Her round off whip back somersault to immediate full in back out on Floor!
Past Achievements- 2014 Commonwealth Team Champion, 2015 English Floor Champion, 2015 Universiade All Around Champion, Vault Silver medalist and Floor bronze medalist,
Fun Facts-
- Kelly has been training for 14+ years
- She loves adventure and has been parasailing this year
Kelly competed in her first World Championships last year and has been making quite an international reputation since then, after winning a streak of gold medals not only at home at the English and British Championships but abroad in Munich and at the University Games and Commonwealth Games. She also participated in the first ever European Games, finishing 11
th AA. She told British Gymnastics that the support from the home crowd is their advantage (so cheer loudly if you’re going!)
Charlie Fellows
Age- 18
Club- City Of Liverpool
Check out- Her elegant and expressive dance work in between her difficult tumbling passes on Floor
Past Achievements- 2013 Senior British All Around Silver medalist, 2014 English Championships Bronze Bars medalist, 2014 World Championships Reserve, 2015 British Teams Champion, 2015 British Championships Bars Finalist
Fun Facts-
- Charlie was born in Birmingham but now goes to school in Crewe
- Look out for her in The Zone catalogues- she has modeled for The Zone for a number of years!
Charlie was also a part of the very first European Games last year where she contributed to the team’s 8
th place finish and qualified for the Bars Finals. Like this year, she was selected as the reserve athlete for the World Championships in 2014 too. Charlie is a capable athlete and beautiful performer on every event and will be ready to step in to help the team, if and wherever needed.
All that’s left to do now is countdown to the start of the competition!
Hope you all found these blogs helpful!
Best wishes,
For more information on the 2015 World Championships, the official website is:
http://www.2015worldgymnastics.com/
Make sure you’re following @ZoneGymnastics and @BritGymnastics on Twitter for the best Gymnastics tweets including live updates and information about television and online streaming!
