| Joe Fraser | |
| Country: | |
| Birth Date: | 1998 12, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Birmingham, England, United Kingdom |
| Residence: | Birmingham, England |
| Height: | 1.68 meters |
| Discipline: | MAG |
| Level: | Senior Elite |
| Natlteam: | 2014–present (GBR) |
| Club: | City of Birmingham GC |
| Headcoach: | Lee Woolls |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
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.
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.
Fraser made his international senior debut in June at the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
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]
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. He returned to international competition at the 2018 World Challenge Cup in Guimares, Portugal.
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.
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. He was the youngest competitor on the apparatus and his win was Great Britain's first gold medal on the apparatus.[9]
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]
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]
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]