Commonwealth
Games 2022

Welsh gymnasts have been competing at the Commonwealth Games ever since artistic gymnastics was included in the main Games programme for the first time in 1978.

The eight gymnasts (four men’s and four women’s) who had the honour of being the first to represent Wales at that Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada were: Andrew Hallam, Leigh Jones, Michael Higgins, Paul Preedy, Tina Pocock, Jacqueline Vokes, Linda Bernard and Linda Surringer.

Women’s artistic gymnast Sonia Lawrence wins silver on the vault at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to also become the first gymnast to win a medal for Wales at the Games.

It’s silver on the high bar for David Eaton in Melbourne. It was – and still remains to this day – the first and only medal won by a Welsh male gymnast at the Commonwealth Games.

Delhi 2010 brought Wales’ first medal in rhythmic gymnastics at the Games, a silver with the hoop won by Frankie Jones.

Welsh gymnasts pick up a quite brilliant total of 10 medals at Glasgow 2014!

Rhythmic bagged eight of those; five individual for Frankie Jones, Laura Halford collected two individual bronze medals, while Frankie, Laura and Nikara Jenkins also secured a Team silver medal.

Glasgow brought two medals for women’s artistic too, with Georgina Hockenhull bagging individual bronze on the balance beam, while there was also a first ever women’s artistic team bronze for the quintet of Hockenhull, Lizzie Beddoe, Raer Theaker, Jessica Hogg and Angel Romaeo.

At Gold Coast 2018, Wales won two gymnastics medals. Latalia Bevan, from Merthyr Tydfil, bagged silver in the floor exercise in the women’s artistic competition, while rhythmic star Laura Halford brought home a silver medal after her performance in the hoop.

It would be Laura’s final Commonwealth Games medal – and her fourth in total.

Gemma Frizelle bags a sensational – and historic – gold medal in the rhythmic hoop final for Team Wales at Birmingham 2022. In doing so she became the first Welsh gymnast to win gold with that piece of apparatus at the Games.

Competing at her second Games, Gemma delivered a beautiful routine to wow the Arena Birmingham crowd and earn a top score of 28.700 from the judges.

It was also only the second time a Welsh gymnast has won Commonwealth gold following from Frankie Jones’ ribbon gold at Glasgow 2014.