Heath Thorpe Explained

Heath Thorpe
Full Name:Heath Thorpe
Birth Date:3 September 2000[1]
Birth Place:Australia
Residence:Sydney, Australia
Natlteam:2017–present
Club:New South Wales High Performance Centre
Show-Medals:yes

Heath Thorpe (born 3 September 2000)[2] is an Australian artistic gymnast. He made his World Championships debut at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[3] He was a reserve athlete for the Australian team at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships,[4] and represented his country at the 2019 Summer Universiade.[5] He advanced to the vault final at the 2019 Universiade where he finished sixth.[6] Thorpe is a member of Men's Artistic Gymnastics Australian National Squad (2017–present).[7]

Personal life

Thorpe studies at the Queensland University of Technology where he is pursuing a degree in communications.[8] He currently resides in Sydney, Australia. He is openly gay.[9] [10]

Gymnastics career

2018

Thorpe made his international debut as a junior at the 2018 RD761 Junior International Team Cup, where he placed third in the vault final.[11] Thorpe then went on to make his senior international debut at the 2018 Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in April and qualified to the vault final, to finish fourth.[12]

Thorpe competed at the 2018 Australian Gymnastics Championships and placed first on floor.[13]

In October, Gymnastics Australia announced Thorpe to the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships team.[14] While in Doha, Thorpe was announced as the alternate for the team and did not compete in the event.[15]

2019

In February, Thorpe was announced to compete at the Individual Apparatus Artistic Gymnastics World Cup taking place in Melbourne,[16] despite having had surgery to remove screws from his elbow just eight weeks prior to the event.[17]

Thorpe competed at the 2019 Australian Gymnastics Championships, finishing sixth all around, second on floor and third on vault in the senior international competition.[18]

Thorpe was announced to represent his country at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy.[19] Thorpe went on to qualify to the event finals, placing sixth in the vault final.[20]

2021–2022

Thorpe missed out on qualifying for the Oceania quota spot for the Tokyo Olympic Games following a subpar performance at a National Team Camp in April. Despite this, Thorpe competed and finished third all around at the 2021 Australian Gymnastics Championships, hosted on the Gold Coast, in May. His success in the all around was accompanied by a first place in the team event and a second place finish on horizontal bar.[21] Due to a hamstring injury, he could not compete in floor and vault finals, where he finished first place on both apparatus during the all around competition on day 1.[22]

Thorpe competed in Bundesliga for TG Allgäu in Germany throughout September and October 2021. This was his first professional competitive season. Thorpe also went on to compete in the Wase GymCup in Belgium under the Australian flag where he placed first on floor, horizontal bar and second on vault.

2023

In May, Thorpe won his first all-around title at the 2023 Australian Gymnastics Championships at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre in Carrara, Queensland. Despite this, he was not named to the Australian team for the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.[23] [24]

Eponymous skill

In 2022, Thorpe submitted a request to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to allow leaps to be added to the Code of Points for Men's Artistic Gymnastics. The request was denied by FIG.

Competitive history

width=7% class=unsortableYearwidth=37% class=unsortableEventwidth=7% class=unsortableTeamwidth=7% class=unsortableAAwidth=7% class=unsortableFXwidth=7% class=unsortablePHwidth=7% class=unsortableSRwidth=7% class=unsortableVTwidth=7% class=unsortablePBwidth=7% class=unsortableHB
Senior
2018 align=left 4 4
align=left Australian Championships
2019 align=left Australian Championships 6 5
align=left 8 6
2021 align=left Australian Championships
align=left Wase Gym Cup
2022 align=left Australian Championships 5
align=left Oceania Championships 4 8 6 7
align=left 5
align=left 22 50
2023 align=left 14
align=left Oceania Championships 6 8
align=left Australian Championships
2024 align=left

Notes and References

  1. Web site: THORPE Heath – FIG Athlete Profile.
  2. https://results.universiade2019napoli.it/assets/pdf/SENIORS%20-%20Individual%20-%20EntryListByNocMag.pdf
  3. Web site: Gymnastics Australia . 2023-05-10 . gymnastics-australia-stage.incrowdsports.com . en.
  4. Web site: Worlds Team Announcement. . 2019-08-19. 7 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190807193311/https://www.gymnastics.org.au/GA/Posts/News_Articles/2018/10_Oct/Worlds_Team_Announcement.aspx. dead.
  5. https://results.universiade2019napoli.it/assets/pdf/SENIORS%20-%20Individual%20-%20Qualification%20Floor%20exercises%20ApparatusResultsMag.pdf
  6. https://results.universiade2019napoli.it/assets/pdf/SENIORS%20-%20Individual%20-%20Apparatus%20Final%20Vault%20ApparatusResultsMag.pdf
  7. Web site: MAG National Squad. . 2019-09-25. 20 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190920102208/http://www.gymnastics.org.au/GA/High_Performance/National_Team/National_Squads/Men_s_Artistic_Gymnastics/Ga/High_Performance/National_Team/National_Squad/MAG_National_Squad.aspx?hkey=48b09271-809a-4180-9ddc-aa4bfc990388. dead.
  8. Web site: 2019 WSG Gymnastics UniSport Australia. unisport. en. 2019-08-19. 7 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190807193310/https://www.unisport.com.au/2019-wsg-gymnastics. dead.
  9. Web site: r/Gymnastics – Diego Hypolito officially comes out: "I want people to know that I'm gay and that I'm not ashamed of it.". reddit. 8 May 2019 . en. 2019-08-19.
  10. News: The Australian athletes championing LGBTIQ+ pride in sport . en . 2022-08-06.
  11. Web site: 2018 RD761 Jr Event Results. 25 September 2019.
  12. Web site: 2018 Pacific Rim Championships Snr MAG Event Finals. 25 August 2019.
  13. Web site: MAG 2018 Nationals Results. . 2019-09-25. 25 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190925112545/http://gymnastics.org.au/Ga/Events/Results_Archive/2018_Results_Archive/2018_Nationals_Results/MAG_2018_Nationals_Results.aspx. dead.
  14. Web site: Worlds Team Announcement. . 2019-09-25. 25 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190925112544/http://www.gymnastics.org.au/Ga/Posts/News_Articles/2018/10_Oct/Worlds_Team_Announcement.aspx. dead.
  15. Web site: Heath Thorpe on Instagram: "Podium training was a heap of fun and a pretty successful day on the big stage! As expected coming over here to Doha, I was always the…". https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/BpPwNdoBXXv . 26 December 2021 . registration. Instagram. en. 2019-09-25.
  16. Web site: Gymnastics Australia Announces 2019 World Cup Team. . 2019-09-25. 25 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190925112540/http://gymnastics.org.au/Ga/Posts/News_Articles/2019/01_Jan/Gymnastics_Australia_Announces_2019_World_Cup_Team.aspx. dead.
  17. Web site: World Cup Wrap. www.gymqld.org.au. 2019-09-25. 25 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190925112540/http://www.gymqld.org.au/QLD/Posts/News_Articles/2019/World_Cup_Wrap.aspx. dead.
  18. Web site: Results Ausgymnasticschamps. ausgymnasticschamps.com.au. 2019-09-25.
  19. Web site: 2019 World Universiade Team Announcement. . 2019-09-25. 25 September 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190925112540/http://www.gymnastics.org.au/Ga/Posts/News_Articles/2019/06_June/2019_World_Universiade_Team_Announcement.aspx. dead.
  20. Web site: 2019 Universiade MAG Event Final Results. 25 September 2019.
  21. Web site: Results Ausgymnasticschamps. 2021-07-04. ausgymnasticschamps.com.au.
  22. Web site: https://twitter.com/thorpeheath/status/1396366733514969091. 2021-07-04. Twitter. en.
  23. Web site: Bregman . Scott . Aussie champ Heath Thorpe left off 2023 World Championships team – Gymnastics weekly news . Olympics . 28 September 2023.
  24. Web site: Duffy . Patricia . Reigning Australian all-around champion Heath Thorpe left off world championships team – Gymnastics Now . gymnastics-now.com . 28 September 2023 . 19 July 2023.