Joe Fraser and Alice Kinsella prove they have the fight to be crowned champions Golden heroes
For the past few days at Arena Birmingham, two hometown heroes were forced to confront very different personal struggles.
By the end of gymnastics competition yesterday both had, in their own way, overcome them.
While Joe Fraser battled through the pain of a broken foot to leave Birmingham 2022 with three gold medals, the latest yesterday on parallel bars, Alice Kinsella fought through raging internal doubts to finish her Commonwealth Games with victory on the floor.
Her personal tally of two golds, after leading England to victory in Saturday’s team final, might have fallen below her pre-game target.
But in every sense floor gold felt a serious triumph and one of the most heartwarming moments of the Games so far, particularly when considering the very public emotional turmoil witnessed when a fall on the balance beam derailed her chances of victory in Sunday’s all-around final.
There was to be further disappointment on the beam early yesterday when Kinsella could only manage fourth in the individual final.
Yet if anything that made her subsequent performance on the floor, in the final gymnastics event of the games, even more impressive. Afterward, medal in proud possession, the 21-year-old Park Wrekin gymnast opened up on the full extent of the mental challenge and the help she has received from England coach Brett Ince.
“Since I rolled my ankle a couple of months ago, I’ve been having panic attacks when doing the floor mostly every day,” said Kinsella.
“It has been getting there but without him (Brett), helping me calm down, I wouldn’t be here today.
“It was definitely mentally hard for me. I did the same thing (on the floor) in Tokyo last summer so for that to happen again, the trauma all came back. Now I’m feeling a lot more confident on it.”
Kinsella, who had left the Arena in tears on Sunday, managed a smile for the crowd during the introductions to the beam event but otherwise wore a look of pure concentration.
Midway through her routine there were gasps as it appeared she would again fall. This time her balance was restored and the dismount solid but the score of 12.933 score was only good enough for fourth, Australia’s Kate McDonald taking gold.
“I didn’t fall off this time but it wasn’t the best routine I’ve done on the beam,” she said. “But that made me push myself more for the floor final, knowing I came first in qualification.”
When Kinsella took to the floor, team-mate Ondine Achampong led the way but though the landing of her first tumble contained a slight step to the side, her confidence seemed to grow back by the second.
Routine complete, Kinsella threw her head to the skies and this time any tears were of relief. Still, the crowd lived her tension before the score of 13.366 came through. No-one else could touch it.
“You could say it has been a rollercoaster but it all paid off in the end,” she said. “The all-around final wasn’t my day, it was a goal for me to come away with an all-around medal but it’s gymnastics, you never know what’s going to happen on the day.”
Fraser’s three golds also fell below his personal target but considering his injury, not to mention the fact he is only six weeks on from having his appendix removed, his achievements still felt remarkable.
Already a winner in the team event and on the pommel horse, he effectively ended the parallel bars competition before it had properly begun, registering a score of 15.000 with most of the field still to go.
At that point Fraser still had the chance to match the achievement team-mate Jake Jarman, who had earlier become the first male English gymnast to win four gold medals at a Games.
And yet, finally, came proof the 23-year-old is human after all. Attempting a catch and release, he missed the bar by fractions, ending up front first on the mat. After taking a moment to compose himself and he completed his routine but the score of 12.266 was never going to be enough to trouble the medals, Cyprus' Marios Georgiou taking gold to deny England a clean sweep in the men's events.
“The dream was to walk away with that high bar gold medal but it wasn’t meant to be today,” said Fraser.
“That’s gymnastics, mistakes happen, I’ll go back to the drawing board and work on the routine.
“Right now, I’m just proud of what we’ve achieved as a team. As a team, we’ve collected all but one of the gold medals, which is unheard of.”
The former Sandwell Academy student still lives within walking distance of the Arena and has enjoyed the past five days so much, he joked he was hungry to do it all again.
“You don’t get many opportunities to do competitions in general so to do one in your home city, it felt different,” he said.
“I can’t explain the feeling I had out there. If I could, I’d do the whole week again and give the medals back just to feel that buzz of competing in front of a home crowd again.”
