In the summer of 2024 the biggest event in the sport of gymnastics will take place. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games is a culmination of four years of hard work and sacrifices made by the athletes and their coaching teams. The competitive season is well underway and this month the final individual apparatus spots for the Olympic Games will be up for grabs at the final World Cup in Doha. The English and British championships have now taken place and the American team is looking incredibly strong both nationally and internationally winning Gold at the DTB cup in March. It's been a busy Strat to the gymnastics calendar. And this is my story. 

In 2006 David Eaton won a silver medal on the High Bar at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne for team Wales. He represented Great Britain throughout the 1990's and early 2000's and competed at the gymnastics world championships in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks took place in America. Dave's career bridged two generations and he was part of the British team that failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. He went on to be an early component in the beginning of what became the golden generation of men's gymnastics in Great Britain. An opportunity to study and train in California early in his career in part led to the birth of TURN. Which is now the leading men's gymnastics brand globally. Dave was invited to watch the recent British Championships that took place in Liverpool thanks to the All Around British title he won back in 2001. And this is his story.

In 2023 Fred Richard became the youngest male gymnast to ever win an individual World championships medal for team USA in Men's gymnastics. The US Men's team also took the bronze medal putting them in the driving seat ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this summer. Fred only competed in his first elite level national championships in 2019 and in that short space of time he's already become one of the most exciting athletes in the sport. He represents the Michigan Wolverines college team competing in the NCAA.Over the past twelve months his profile has grown substantially both in and out of the gymnastics community. And this is his story.

In 2022 Felix Coomber began a four year course studying international social science at the university of Tsukuba in Japan. Felix started gymnastics at the age of five and has won multiple individual medals nationally in recent years. He is the first British gymnast to train full time in Japan and now represents the university team.  In 2002 at the Salt Lake City winter Olympic Games Felix's Mum won an Olympic bronze medal in the Skeleton bobsleigh for TeamGB. He recently competed at the English championships and plans to compete again at the British championships in a few weeks time. And this is his story. 

In 2023 Will Foden completed his first ironman with a collapsed lung and proved not for the first time that he was someone with the mental capacity to overcome huge challenges. He played professional and semiprofessional rugby for over ten years. Whilst played for the Doncaster knights a freak accident led to him having his leg snapped in half by a horse. Incredibly after this his career took him to Australia and then Singapore where he coached the Singapore Wonderers to a rugby league title. Will is now the CEO of the stay strong collective which is a performance leadership service providing coaching, mentoring and education to both individuals and businesses. And this is his story. 

 In 2009 after competing at the English gymnastics championships and walking away with Sven out of seven gold medals. I made the monumental mistake of leaving my gym bag at the competition arena. The following morning Sergey picked me up early to leave for a training camp at the national centre with the GB team. This was by far the biggest telling off I ever received through the entirety of my whole gymnastics career. Luckily we managed to collect my kit bag that same morning but not before Sergey hit me with one of his famous riddles. Next time you should leave your head. They say a bad workman blames his tools. In gymnastics the right tools and equipment can be the difference between winning and losing. And this is my story.

In January 2024 I sat down with former TeamGB Olympic medalist Nile Wilson to talk about his gymnastics career and explore topics outside the world of sport.  We have both recently started going to Jiujitsu classes and explore the challenges of starting a new sport. Gymnastics is a bodyweight sport and many athletes can get caught up in trying to control their weight to the detriment of their performance. Myself and Nile try to unpick our own experiences with food and lessons we've learned along the way. I ask Nile if he believes vaping is acting as a gateway drug into smoking cigarettes and he opens up about his battles with addiction.  We attempt to tackle the men versus women debate in sport and give our perspective of being in a sport where the women take the lions share. And this is our Conversation. 

In the summer of 2024 athletes, coaches and support staff from every corner of the globe will compete at the Paris Olympic Games. Millions if not billions of sports fans around the world will watch their nations sporting superstars go for gold in 32 different sports. A total of twelve teams will battle it out in the men's team event. Great Britain have finished fourth in the last two Olympic Games and the five men selected will be hoping to go one step further in France. Who will earn themselves a plane ticket to Paris and what kind of team will the selectors be looking for? The Olympic Games is the biggest sporting event on the planet. And this is my story. 

In 2019 Ashley Watson retired from the sport of Men's artistic gymnastics after nineteen years of competing at the highest level. Shortly afterwards he was recruited by the world famous Cirque Du Solei to be part of a brand new show. The company closed down production and cancelled the new show during the global pandemic and Ash returned home from Canada.  He is now a successful content creator in his own right producing gymnastics based entertainment online and following in Nile Wilson's footsteps. Ash was one of the most exciting British gymnasts of his generation to compete over the last twenty years. And this is his story. 

In Autumn 2023 I started to notice a gradual increase in stress levels woven into the world around me.  People seemed to be driving more erratically, they were under more pressure at work and the cost of living crisis was hitting everybody's pockets. In November I went out to celebrate my brother's birthday and seemed like every conversation I was having revolved around mental health or money worries. Then between Christmas and New Year I went out for dinner with some friends and we had a really interesting disagreement about the wold and how it works. Quite often in life if you follow the money you'll get to the answers you're looking for. And this is my story.