Words by Bailey Alexander
Ahead of Paris 2024, we chat with Team GB artistic gymnast Joe Fraser.
At only 24 years old, Joe Fraser has travelled the world showing off his talent at artistic gymnastics. In 2019 he won gold for the parallel bars at the World Championships, and bagged another gold last year in Munich for the parallel bars again whilst also taking home golds for the all-around and team categories. But, despite a long slew of achievements at such a young age, gymnast Joe is no stranger to obstacles.
Last year, Joe suffered an injury. His foot was fractured and his big toe developed a knack for popping in and out of its socket. This was 2 weeks before the 2022 Commonwealth Games. It was safe to say, Joe was going to need a miracle to take part. Sure enough, a miracle came, in the form of his sheer determination as Joe went onto compete in 4 of the 6 events.
It comes as no surprise that he achieved this though. After all, one of his favourite gymnasts is Shun Fujimoto, a now-fabled athlete who during a competition managed to dislocate his already broken kneecap and tear ligaments upon his landing, yet still powered through for a solid finish as to not let his team down. When your heroes are the stuff of legends, some of that is bound to rub off on you.
And rub off on Joe Fraser it did. Still, being an artistic gymnast isn’t all bumps and bruises, it’s also a hell of a lot of training. Joe’s average day starts at 10:30am with a warm up and some rehab, mainly geared towards the shoulder injury he suffered a little while back. There’s 3 hours of morning training, a quick lunch hour, then back to training for another 3 hours. He says “It’s definitely difficult but, because I enjoy it, it makes it much easier to push yourself through the hard days”.
Now, with his shoulder and foot injuries taken care of in March during what he calls his “Full MOT”, Joe’s sights are set on Paris 2024. The GB team are gearing up for the upcoming Olympics after qualifying last November. The road to qualification wasn’t easy though: Joe explains that at last year’s World Gymnastics Championships, “Me and the team weren’t having the best year. I made quite a few mistakes and we ended up 8th out of 8th at one point. But my coach and the team were so supportive of each other and we managed to achieve a bronze and secure our position at the Olympics”.
Being last place is never good for morale, but Joe clued us in on what it takes to climb to the top: “You need to be dedicated. Being motivated’s all well and good whilst you’re motivated, but then the day that you’re not motivated that’s when you need to be dedicated. That’s what will take you to the next level and separate you from the rest”. Joe comes across as incredibly humble though, as he further clarifies his strong belief in learning from your mistakes: “You need to fail forward. In many Olympics sports the average person doesn’t get the opportunity to see athletes make mistakes. For young kids that are trying to get into gymnastics and only see their idols competing twice a year, it makes it hard for them to imagine that they could ever be there”. He laughs as he explains as much as he believes in this philosophy, he doesn’t try to showcase his mistakes in training or competitions.
Now with Paris on the horizon, all of Joe’s talent is focused on the most famous sports event in the world. This isn’t his first rodeo though, he competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Team GB, finishing in a cool 4th place. This time, things are bound to be different, mainly because of the Paris location and the post-Covid setting. Joe says he’s most looking forward to entertaining a crowd now that COVID restrictions are a distant memory: “with it being so close to the UK, it’ll feel like a home game to an extent. We’re on similar time zones so it’ll be for friends and family to watch, and having everyone who’s been on the journey with you able to be a part of it will take us to the next level”.
Go for Gold, Joe.
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