Glasgow 2014: Claudia Fragapane wins historic fourth gold

  • Published
Media caption,

Fragapane makes it four golds

Claudia Fragapane became the first Englishwoman to win four golds at a single Commonwealth Games for 84 years with victory on the floor on Friday.

The gymnast, 16, had already won the vault, the all-around gold and the team gold earlier in the week, as well as coming fifth in Friday's beam event.

Swimmer Joyce Cooper was the previous Englishwoman to win four golds in 1930.

"I'm speechless I'm the most-decorated English woman at the Games in 84 years. It's incredible," said Fragapane.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

At the 1930 Games in Canada, England's Joyce Cooper won gold in the 100 yard backstroke, 100 yard freestyle, 440 yard freestyle relay and the 440 yard freestyle

Fragapane joins Cooper and the men's pair of fencer Bill Hoskyns (1958) and shooter Mick Gault (1998) as the only English competitors to win four golds at a single Commonwealth Games.

Gault equalled the all-time all-comers medal record at Glasgow 2014 when he secured his 18th with bronze in the 10m air pistol competition.

The all-comers' record of six golds at a single Games is held by four athletes, including Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe in Manchester in 2002, while eight competitors have won five golds.

Standing just 4ft 5in tall, Fragapane has belied her diminutive size to become one of the stars of the Games and her final appearance did not disappoint as her score of 14.541 on the floor saw off the challenge of Australia's Lauren Mitchell (13.833), while Canada's Ellie Black (13.666) won bronze.

Meanwhile, England's Nile Wilson won gold in the high bars as well as taking silver in the parallel bars behind Scotland's Dan Purvis, with three-time gold medallist Max Whitlock securing bronze in the latter.

Wilson's high bars gold was decided on a tie-break after he was given the same score as team-mate Kristian Thomas, who had earlier picked up silver in the vault.

Wilson was awarded the title because of his higher execution score after both he and Thomas scored 14.966, with Canada's Kevin Lytwyn taking bronze with 14.866.

It meant the 18-year-old won his first individual gold medal of the Commonwealth Games after claiming team gold, parallel bars silver and all-around bronze.

The Commonwealth Games six shooters

Name

Country

Gold

sport

Year

Graham Smith

Canada

6

swimming

1978

Susie O'Neill

Australia

6

swimming

1998

Ian Thorpe

Australia

6

swimming

2002

Alexandra Orlando

Canada

6

gymnastics

2006

"To finish like that was the icing on the cake - to finish with a gold medal is just unbelievable. I was just happy with how I performed - the scores were great," said Wilson.

In the men's vault, Canada's Scott Morgan won gold with a total of 14.733, with a disappointed-looking Thomas second with a score of 14.499 and Singapore's Wah Toon Hoe taking bronze with 14.195.

Thomas said: "I'm a bit disappointed with the first vault, but it's a Commonwealth medal so I am delighted."

Wales' Georgina Hockenhull took bronze on the women's beam behind Canada's Elsabeth Black.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Claudia Fragapane has won four of the five finals she has competed in at Glasgow 2014

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Fragapane's Italian-born dad wears Italy football shirts when she competes

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Nile Wilson won five gold medals at the 2014 European Championships in Sofia in May

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Scottish gymnast Dan Purvis is based in England and trains at Southport YMCA

Around the BBC

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.