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Claudia Fragapane

Claudia Fragapane

Claudia Fragapane (born 24 October 1997)[2] is a British artistic gymnast.[3][4] She came to prominence at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was the first English woman to win four gold medals since 1930.[5] 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.[6] She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[7]

Claudia Fragapane
Personal information
Country representedGreat Britain
England
Born(1997-10-24)24 October 1997
Bristol, England
Height1.40 m (4 ft 7 in)[1]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
ClubBristol Hawks
Headcoach(es)Helen Potter, Rory Weavers
Music2013–2014: Shake Break Bounce by The Chemical Brothers
2015–2016: Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag by Pigbag
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Early life

Fragapane grew up in Bristol, where she attended St Bernadette Catholic Secondary School.[8] She started gymnastics at age six.[1]

Senior career

2014

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,[9] 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).[10]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Fragapane competed on all four events in the team final, where the English team won gold.[11] 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.[12] She also qualified first on balance beam,[13] vault,[14] and floor.[15] Fragapane won the individual all-around final with a score of 56.132,[16] and the women's vault final with a score of 14.633.[17] On 1 August, she won the floor final with a score of 14.541.[18] With four gold medals in a single competition, Fragapane was England's most successful female Commonwealth Games competitor in over 80 years.[4]

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

Fragapane on balance beam at the 2015 European Championships

Fragapane on balance beam at the 2015 European Championships

Fragapane competed at the 2015 American Cup in Arlington, Texas.[19][20] She struggled throughout the competition, counting numerous falls,[21] and finished 9th.[22] A week later, she competed at the English Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Loughborough, where she scored 54.900 all-around.[23]

At the 2015 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Montpellier, France, Fragapane placed 6th in the all-around final,[24] 6th in the vault final,[25] 4th on the beam,[26] and 2nd in the floor final, behind Ksenia Afanasyeva of Russia.[27]

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.[6]

2016

In March 2016, Fragapane won the all-around title and three event titles at the 2016 English Championships in Loughborough.[28] 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.[29]

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.[30] Great Britain finished fifth in the team final.[31]

2017

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

Fragapane's season was cut short when, in March 2018, she sustained an achilles injury.[32]

2019

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.[33] 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.[34] During qualifications Fragapane finished first on floor exercise and advanced to the final.[35] During the final she placed fifth.

Strictly Come Dancing

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.[36]

Competitive history

Fragapane on vault at the 2015 European Championships

Fragapane on vault at the 2015 European Championships

YearEventTeamAAVTUBBBFX
2011English Junior Championships5464
British Junior Championships83rd, bronze medalist(s)6
Isle of Man International1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
UK School Games2nd, silver medalist(s)767
2012Coupe Avenir1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
British Junior Championships52nd, silver medalist(s)45
2013Élite Gym Massilia3rd, bronze medalist(s)65
Gymnasiade3rd, bronze medalist(s)75765
2014English Championships3rd, bronze medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)44
British Championships3rd, bronze medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)3rd, bronze medalist(s)5
Munich Friendly1st, gold medalist(s)
GBR-NED International Friendly1st, gold medalist(s)9
European Championships2nd, silver medalist(s)68
Commonwealth Games1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)51st, gold medalist(s)
World Championships61058
2015AT&T American Cup9
English Championships2nd, silver medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)3rd, bronze medalist(s)4
British Championships2nd, silver medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)3rd, bronze medalist(s)3rd, bronze medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)
European Championships6642nd, silver medalist(s)
GBR-NED International Friendly1st, gold medalist(s)
World Championships3rd, bronze medalist(s)7
2016Glasgow World Cup3rd, bronze medalist(s)
English Championships1st, gold medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
British Championships1st, gold medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)2nd, silver medalist(s)
European Championships2nd, silver medalist(s)54
Olympic Games5
2017British Championships2nd, silver medalist(s)
English Championships1st, gold medalist(s)1st, gold medalist(s)
European Championships87
World Championships3rd, bronze medalist(s)
2018English Championships2nd, silver medalist(s)
2019British Championships42nd, silver medalist(s)
European Championships5

References

[1]
Citation Linkdatabase.fig-gymnastics.com"FRAGAPANE Claudia". fig-gymnastics.com. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
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[2]
Citation Linkresults.glasgow2014.com"Glasgow 2014 – Claudia FRAGAPANE Profile". Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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[3]
Citation Linkwww.theguardian.comDonald McRae. "Claudia Fragapane: I was driving my mum crazy bouncing around the house". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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[4]
Citation Linkwww.bbc.co.uk"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
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[5]
Citation Linkwww.bbc.co.uk"BBC Sport – Glasgow 2014: Claudia Fragapane wins historic fourth gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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[6]
Citation Linkwww.british-gymnastics.org"British women win historic World bronze". British Gymnastics. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
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Citation Linkresults.nbcolympics.com"Claudia Fragapane | NBC Olympics". results.nbcolympics.com. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
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Citation Linkwww.bristolpost.co.uk"Where did these 11 Bristol celebrities go to school?",Bristol Post, 2 April 2017 (Accessed 4 April 2017)
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Citation Linkwww.british-gymnastics.org"Mens & Womens Artistic British Championships 2014 – British Gymnastics". Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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Citation Linkwww.bbc.co.ukNick Hope. "BBC Sport – European Gymnastics: Rebecca Downie wins gold in uneven bars". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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[11]
Citation Linkresults.glasgow2014.com"Gymnastics Artistic Women's Team Final". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
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Citation Linkresults.glasgow2014.com"Gymnastics Artistic Women's All-Around Qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
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Citation Linkresults.glasgow2014.com"Gymnastics Artistic Women's Beam Qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
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Citation Linkresults.glasgow2014.com"Gymnastics Artistic Women's Vault Qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
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[18]
Citation Linkresults.glasgow2014.com"Gymnastic's Artistic Women's Floor Final". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
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[19]
Citation Linkwww.attamericancup.com"USA's Mikulak, Skinner, Whittenburg will compete at 2015 AT&T American Cup – AT&T American Cup". AT&T American Cup. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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[20]
Citation Linkwww.fig-gymnastics.com"Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique – View FigNews". Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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