Fraser wins gold with a broken foot
JOE FRASER flew, flipped and spun over the most painful of barriers before landing as a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in extraordinary circumstances last night.
While it was a title shared in England’s successful defence of the team crown, there was no doubting that the man under the brightest glare of the five was Birmingham’s local hero Fraser, who revealed on Thursday he would be competing on a broken right foot.
That fracture was diagnosed only a fortnight ago — which in turn came three weeks after he was rushed to hospital with a ruptured appendix. Taking those ailments into account, what the 23-year-old achieved in dominating the pommel horse and horizontal bar was remarkable, and perhaps only eclipsed by him finishing second on the rings and parallel bars, given he nailed what appeared to be excruciating landings in each. His scores played an ample role in what collectively was a performance of domination by his colleagues James Hall, Jake Jarman, Giarnni Regini-Moran and Courtney Tulloch, who added to Fraser accounted for the highest individual scores on each of the six apparatus. Combined their score was a street clear of Canada and Cyprus in silver and bronze respectively. Heightened credit ought to go to Regini-Moran, who led the tables in both the parallel bars and floor, and was second in the vault, which was won by Jarman, before the top rating for the rings was scored by Tulloch. Hall, a consistent scorer in each, will be a strong contender for the all-around gold tomorrow and will face competition from Jarman.
Until Thursday, that marquee title seemed sure to go to Fraser (left), but he will remain in the hunt for multiple other individual medals in the coming week, assuming his body can withstand the torment.
A big assumption, of course. Illustration of that came from his landing off the parallel bars, which he achieved with the tiniest of stutters but with a large grimace scratched into his face — plainly the 2019 world champion for the discipline was in agony. Ditto after the rings, but he was truly exceptional on the pommel, which he cleaned up in 14.650. He might well take gold on one foot next week.
The win secured a repeat of the 2018 team gold won by England, with Hall and Tulloch also part of that ensemble. It also brought a little much-needed gloss to the sport in this country on the back of the appalling scandals that have been revealed in gymnastics across the past couple of years.