Joe Fraser wakes up each morning to a reminder of his date with destiny.
‘In the corner of my bedroom I’ve got the Olympic rings on a whiteboard and an arrow pointing to a countdown clock, so I know how long I’ve got to keep working,’ the world champion gymnast explains to Sportsmail. ‘I thought it would be nice to see the dream as well as think about it all the time.’
Fraser had to reset that clock in March 2020 when the Olympics were postponed by a year but now there are just 30 days to go.
The 22-year-old was confirmed in Great Britain’s four-man team for Tokyo last month
He was confirmed in Great Britain’s four-man team for Tokyo last month, with expectations having skyrocketed since he won gold on the high bars at the 2019 World Championships.
‘Now I am world champion, I am not going to change the way I approach competitions,’ says Fraser, who also took bronze on the pommel horse at April’s European Championships. ‘I am still just Joe from Birmingham who enjoys doings somersaults.’
Fraser has been somersaulting since he was small, his mum taking him to his local gymnastics club at the age of five to stop him from ‘breaking myself or something in the house’.
Unusually, he was born with six fingers on each hand and had to have an operation when he was three months old to have those extra digits removed.
Fraser has been somersaulting since his joining his local gymnastics club at the age of five
‘It’s actually a Fraser trait,’ the 22-year-old laughs, showing his scars on each hand over the screen on Zoom. ‘My dad had it and his dad had it. My team-mates argue that is why I’ve got good grip strength!’
If Fraser was born to do gymnastics, the Olympics have been his dream ever since.
‘On the opening ceremony day of London 2012 I got the Olympic rings shaved into my head,’ he says. ‘The Olympics just bring a smile to my face. I have always dreamt of going.
‘As a kid, I remember watching Louis Smith getting bronze on the
