No place like home as Joe bids for glory
FORGET Duran Duran at the opening ceremony, the local hero worth watching next week is gymnast Joe Fraser.
The 2019 world champion was born just a 30-minute walk from where he will be competing at Birmingham 2022. And Fraser could well come away from his home Commonwealth Games with more medals than any other Team England athlete.
At the Arena Birmingham, the 23-year-old will go for gold in the team event and the individual allaround, parallel bars and high bar, as well as having an outside shot in the pommel horse, with his Olympic champion team-mate Max Whitlock not taking part.
Fraser, who still lives with his family in Edgbaston and trains at the City of Birmingham Gymnastics Club, is typically modest about his chances of claiming up to five gongs. But as one of the faces and ambassadors of these Games, he will be desperate to impress in front of his family, friends and all his other associates asking him for tickets.
‘There is no extra pressure, just extra enjoyment,’ Fraser tells Sportsmail. ‘I’m sure if you asked anyone where they wanted to compete, they would say their home city.
‘ I have lived and trained in Birmingham my whole life, but I never really get the opportunity to compete here, so it is incredible. I am just going to soak up every moment.
‘The Arena is a great venue. I’ve been there numerous times. My first time was probably to see Disney on Ice as a young lad!
‘It will be a proud moment for myself and everyone that has been a part of the journey to get me to where I am today. I will give it my all and see what I can achieve.’
Fraser has had this summer in his sights since 2017, when Birmingham replaced original host city Durban, which was stripped of the Games due to financial problems. ‘I remember I was at the announcement and I couldn’t believe it,’ recalls Fraser, who was born with six fingers on each hand and had to have an operation when he was three months old to remove the extra digits. ‘It drove me to work as hard as I could to try and make these Games as I knew how much it would mean to the city.’
Back in 2017, Fraser was just 19 and finishing his first year in senior international events. Since then, he has won gold on the parallel bars at the 2019 World Championships and competed for Team GB at last year’s Olympics.
But despite his success, Fraser’s participation at Birmingham was in doubt at one stage after he returned from Tokyo needing surgery on an injured shoulder.
‘They said it would take between six and 12 months to be back fully fit and obviously I had the Commonwealth Games in mind,’ he says. ‘So even making the team has been a huge achievement.’
Fraser proved he is back to full fitness and form by winning gold on the high bar at a World Cup event in Baku in April. Now he wants to keep creating positive headlines for a sport stained by the recent findings of the Whyte Review, which exposed a systemic culture of physical and emotional abuse in gymnastics.
‘It was really important that everyone was able to speak about their experience in the sport and have a voice,’ says Fraser.
‘I’m sure British Gymnastics will take on the advice and we will come back and be a stronger sport. I want to inspire that next generation to get into the sport and performing at my best in Birmingham will do that.’