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Claudia Fragapane

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Claudia Fragapane
Fragapane at the 2015 European Championships
Personal information
Born (1997-10-24) 24 October 1997 (age 27)
Bristol, England
Height140 cm (4 ft 7 in)[1]
Gymnastics career
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Years on national team2011–2023 (GBR)
LevelSenior international elite
ClubBristol Hawks
Head coach(es)Helen Potter, Rory Weavers
Music2013–2014: Shake Break Bounce by The Chemical Brothers[citation needed]
2015–2016: Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag by Pigbag[citation needed]
Retired9 February 2024[2]
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Glasgow Team
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Montreal Floor Exercise
European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2014 Sofia Team
Silver medal – second place 2015 Montpellier Floor Exercise
Silver medal – second place 2016 Bern Team
FIG World Cup
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
World Cup 0 0 1
World Challenge Cup 2 0 1
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Team
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow All-Around
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Vault
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Floor Exercise
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Team

Claudia Fragapane (born 24 October 1997)[3] is a retired British artistic gymnast.[4][5] She came to prominence at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was the first English woman to win four gold medals in a single Games since 1930.[6] In 2015, Fragapane was part of the women's gymnastics team that won Great Britain's first-ever team medal, a bronze, at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, before winning an individual world championship bronze on floor two years later.[7]

She competed for Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. but failed to make any individual finals. She helped the Great Britain team to finish 5th in the team final.[8] Following a series of injuries which limited her international career, she returned to the England Commonwealth Games team in 2022, winning her fifth Commonwealth Games gold in the women's team event.

Domestically, Fragapane is an eight-time English champion, and two-time British champion.

Early life

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Fragapane grew up in Bristol, where she attended St Bernadette Catholic Secondary School.[9] She started gymnastics at age six.[1]

Senior career

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2014

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At the British national championships in 2014, Fragapane placed 2nd on vault with a score of 14.000, 5th on floor exercise (13.000), and 3rd on uneven bars (13.950). She finished third in the all-around competition with a total score of 55.700,[10] and was selected to compete at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

At the European Championships, she contributed to Britain's silver-medal performance in the team competition. Individually, she qualified for the vault and floor exercise finals, finishing 6th and 8th, respectively, with scores of 14.333 (vault) and 14.133 (floor).[11]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Fragapane competed on all four events in the team final, where the English team won gold.[12] She qualified first into the all-around final with a score of 56.740, more than a point and a half ahead of the second-place qualifier Ellie Black of Canada.[13] She also qualified first on balance beam,[14] vault,[15] and floor.[16] Fragapane won the individual all-around final with a score of 56.132,[17] and the women's vault final with a score of 14.633.[18] On 1 August, she won the floor final with a score of 14.541.[19] With four gold medals in a single competition, Fragapane was England's most successful female Commonwealth Games competitor in over 80 years.[5]

In October, Fragapane competed at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, where she helped the British women qualify into the team finals in 4th place. Individually, she qualified for the all-around in 13th place with a score of 55.999, despite a fall on the balance beam. She also qualified for the floor final in 6th place (14.400) and the vault final in 7th place (14.716).

In the team final, she contributed a vault score of 14.466 and a floor score of 14.533 towards the British team's 6th-place finish. In the individual all-around final, she placed 10th with a total score of 56.098. In the vault final, she scored 14.716 and tied for 5th place with Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland. In the floor final, a fall and a step out of bounds put her in 8th place with a score of 13.100.

After Fragapane's success in 2014, she was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year, edging out para-cyclist Sophie Thornhill and golfer Bradley Neil.

2015

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Fragapane on balance beam at the 2015 European Championships

Fragapane competed at the 2015 American Cup in Arlington, Texas.[20][21] She struggled throughout the competition, counting numerous falls,[22] and finished 9th.[23] A week later, she competed at the English Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Loughborough, where she scored 54.900 all-around.[24]

At the 2015 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Montpellier, France, Fragapane placed 6th in the all-around final,[25] 6th in the vault final,[26] 4th on the beam,[27] and 2nd in the floor final, behind Ksenia Afanasyeva of Russia.[28]

In October, Fragapane was part of the gymnastics team that won Great Britain's first-ever team medal, a bronze, at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[7]

2016

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In March 2016, Fragapane won the all-around title and three event titles at the 2016 English Championships in Loughborough.[29] This was followed up by winning the All-Around title at the British Championships in April, held at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. Fragapane won the title with a personal best score of 58.10, this was the highest All-Around score of any British woman in the 2012-2016 Olympic Cycle. In July, she was named in Great Britain's women's gymnastics team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, along with Becky Downie, Ellie Downie, Ruby Harrold, and Amy Tinkler.[30]

At the Olympics, Fragapane fell on uneven bars and balance beam in the qualifications round and narrowly missed the cut for the individual all-around final. She also placed 8th on floor but missed out on a place in the final by the Olympic tie-breaking rules.[31] Great Britain finished fifth in the team final.[32]

2017

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At the 2017 European Championships Fragapane qualified for the balance beam and floor finals, finishing 8th and 7th respectively.

Fragapane qualified in fourth for the floor final at the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships with a score of 13.933 before winning bronze in the final, her first individual medal at the championships, with the same score as in qualifying behind Mai Murakami of Japan, and Jade Carey of the US. She is Great Britain's second world championship medalist, after Beth Tweddle.

2018

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Fragapane's season was cut short when, in March 2018, she sustained an Achilles injury.[33]

2019

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Fragapane made her comeback debut at the British Championships, where she only competed on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. In event finals she placed fourth on uneven bars and second on floor exercise behind Ellie Downie.[34] On 19 March she was named to the team to compete at the 2019 European Championships, replacing Kelly Simm after she broke her foot. She competed alongside Downie, Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan.[35] During qualifications Fragapane finished first on floor exercise and advanced to the final.[36] During the final she placed fifth.

2021

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Fragapane was intending to compete at the 2021 European Championships in April; however, during trials she suffered from a head injury which resulted in a concussion.[37] She returned to competition at the Koper World Challenge Cup where she won the gold on floor.[38] In September Fragapane was selected to compete at the 2021 World Championships[39] but had to withdraw after injuring her foot in training.[40]

2022

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In June Fragapane was selected to represent England at the 2022 Commonwealth Games alongside Ondine Achampong, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Alice Kinsella, and Kelly Simm.[41] The group went on to win gold in the women's team all-around competition - Fragapane's fifth Commonwealth gold.[42]

Strictly Come Dancing

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Main article: Strictly Come Dancing (series 14)

Fragapane participated in the 2016 series of the popular reality TV competition show Strictly Come Dancing. She was partnered with AJ Pritchard. The couple reached the semi-finals but were eliminated on 11 December 2016, thus finishing in 4th place overall.

Aged 18 at the time, Fragapane was the second youngest celebrity ever to participate, the youngest having been former EastEnders actress Louisa Lytton who was 17 when she competed in 2006. She is also the first female Olympic gymnast to compete on the show, the first gymnast having been Series 10 champion Louis Smith.[43]

She also appeared on Take Me Out, series 10, episode 8, where she was a choosing contestant and went on a date.

Competitive history

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Fragapane on vault at the 2015 European Championships
Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
Junior
2011 English Championships 5 4 6 4
British Championships 8 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6
Isle of Man International 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
UK School Games 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7 6 7
2012 Coupe Avenir 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
British Championships 5 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 5
Senior
2013 Élite Gym Massilia 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 6 5
Gymnasiade 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 5 7 6 5
2014 English Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 4
British Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 5
Munich Friendly 1st place, gold medalist(s)
GBR-NED International Friendly 1st place, gold medalist(s) 9
European Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6 8
Commonwealth Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships 6 10 5 8
2015 AT&T American Cup 9
English Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 4
British Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
European Championships 6 6 4 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
GBR-NED International Friendly 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7
2016 Glasgow World Cup 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
English Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
British Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
European Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 4
Olympic Games 5
2017 British Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
English Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
European Championships 8 7
World Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2018 English Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2019 British Championships 4 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
European Championships 5
2021 Koper Challenge Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2022
Commonwealth Games 1st place, gold medalist(s)

References

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  1. ^ a b Claudia Fragapane | Team GB Team GB. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Claudia Fragapane announces retirement from gymnastics". British Gymnastics. 9 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Glasgow 2014 – Claudia FRAGAPANE Profile". Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  4. ^ Donald McRae (18 August 2014). "Claudia Fragapane: I was driving my mum crazy bouncing around the house". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Glasgow 2014: Claudia Fragapane wins historic fourth gold". BBC Sport. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014. Fragapane's Italian-born dad wears Italy football shirts when she competes
  6. ^ "BBC Sport – Glasgow 2014: Claudia Fragapane wins historic fourth gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  7. ^ a b "British women win historic World bronze". British Gymnastics. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  8. ^ "Claudia Fragapane | NBC Olympics". results.nbcolympics.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Where did these 11 Bristol celebrities go to school?",Bristol Post, 2 April 2017 (Accessed 4 April 2017)
  10. ^ "Mens & Womens Artistic British Championships 2014 – British Gymnastics". Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  11. ^ Nick Hope. "BBC Sport – European Gymnastics: Rebecca Downie wins gold in uneven bars". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women's Team Final". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  13. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women's All-Around Qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  14. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women's Beam Qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  15. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women's Vault Qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  16. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women's Floor Qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  17. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women's AA Final". 2014 Glasgow. Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  18. ^ "Gymnastics Artistic Women's Vault Final". Glasgow 2014. 31 July 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  19. ^ "Gymnastic's Artistic Women's Floor Final". 2014 Glasgow. Archived from the original on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  20. ^ "USA's Mikulak, Skinner, Whittenburg will compete at 2015 AT&T American Cup – AT&T American Cup". AT&T American Cup. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  21. ^ "Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique – View FigNews". Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  22. ^ Claudia Fragapane (GBR) – Floor Exercise – 2015 AT&T American Cup. YouTube. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  23. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. ^ "Gymdata ~ 2015 English Championships ~ Claudia Fragapane". Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  25. ^ "6th European Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships : Women's All-Around Final" (PDF). Gymnasticsresults.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  26. ^ "6th European Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships : Women's Apparatus Finals" (PDF). Gymnasticsresults.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  27. ^ "6th European Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships : Women's Apparatus Finals" (PDF). Gymnasticsresults.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  28. ^ "6th European Men's and Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships : Women's Apparatus Finals" (PDF). Gymnasticsresults.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  29. ^ "2016 English Championships Results | The Gymternet". Thegymter.net. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  30. ^ "Team GB's 2016 Olympic gymnasts announced". british-gymnastics.org. 12 July 2016. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  31. ^ Yorke, Harry; Bagchi, Rob (9 August 2016). "Rio Olympics 2016 women's team gymnastics final - Simone Biles leads USA to gold in crushing victory". The Telegraph.
  32. ^ Fincher, Julia (9 August 2016). "'Final Five' win gymnastics team gold in Rio". nbcolympics.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  33. ^ "Fragapane out of Commonwealth Games". BBC Sport.
  34. ^ "2019 British Championships Results". The Gymternet. 18 March 2019.
  35. ^ "Claudia Fragapane replaces Kelly Simm in European Championship line up". British Gymnastics. 19 March 2019. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  36. ^ "British women shine in European Championship qualifying". British Gymnastics. 11 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  37. ^ "Strictly Come Dancing star Claudia Fragapane rushed to hospital after 'scary' accident during trial". Metro. 1 April 2021.
  38. ^ "Claudia gold, Courtney silver for GB at World Challenge Cup". British Gymnastics. 6 September 2021.
  39. ^ "British team named for 2021 Artistic World Championships". British Gymnastics. 24 September 2021.
  40. ^ "Mondiali Kitakyushu, Claudia Fragapane di nuovo fuori dai giochi" [Kitakyushu Worlds, Claudia Fragapane out of the games again]. Ginnasticando (in Italian). 28 September 2021.
  41. ^ "Team England Reveal Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics Team Set to Compete at 2022 Commonwealth Games". British Gymnastics. 23 June 2022. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  42. ^ "Commonwealth Games: England's women take team gymnastics gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  43. ^ "BBC Blogs - Strictly Come Dancing - Somersaulting into Strictly… it's Claudia Fragapane!". Bbc.co.uk. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
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