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 pommel horse. That was a great moment and it gave us as young athletes a true belief that it was doable and if we kept pushing ourselves in the gym that we could achieve great things.’ Smith also showed Fraser that a black gymnast could make it to the top. Now it is Fraser blazing a trail, becoming the first black Briton to win a world gold medal. ‘That meant a lot,’ he admits. ‘To know I might have been inspiring someone else that is young and wants to get into the sport fills me with joy and happiness. ‘Racism does happen and it is real. I feel relatively lucky that I haven’t experienced it too much but at the same time it shouldn’t be something that is considered normal.’ Fraser is blazing a trail after becoming the first black Briton to win a world gold medal At the Olympics, athletes face disciplinary action if they take a knee on the podium or field of play, after the International Olympic Committee decided to uphold Rule 50 of the Olympic charter. But Fraser says: ‘There are still multiple different opportunities to make a stand and give your views.’ Fraser still lives in Birmingham with his parents. His mum is an accountant and his dad works as a dustcart driver. ‘Going to the Olympics means so much because so many people have been a part of this journey and put in a lot of time and effort,’ he says. ‘It’s not just for myself, it’s for everyone that has been on that journey with me. ‘Although it is going to be a very different Games to the one I imagined, I am still very excited and want to go out there to achieve great things. I feel like we can definitely get a team medal if we deliver the routines we have been doing in training. ‘I also feel I can do well in the all-around competition and then I’d like to go for P1 on the high bar and why not the pommel too.’ Fraser hopes Tokyo will be just the first of multiple Olympics, with his sights set on Paris 2024 and possibly Los Angeles 2028. After that, he would love to join the circus — the Cirque du Soleil to be precise. ‘I went to watch it when I was relatively young and I find it fascinating,’ adds Fraser. ‘I have friends who do it and they have enjoyed being able to do gymnastic style stuff as well as travelling the world. ‘But right now it’s all in on gymnastics. I am trying to push the boundaries and I want to achieve great things.’ Joe Fraser is working with Purplebricks to encourage the nation to get behind Team GB. Visit: purplebricks.co.uk/teamgb All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility