Hannah Whelan

Hannah Whelan
Hannah Whelan in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Hannah Kate Whelan
Country represented	United Kingdom
Born	July 1, 1992 (1992-07-01) Singapore
Hometown	Stockport
Height	159 centimetres (5 ft 3 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	International Senior Elite
Years on national team	2006-Present
Club	City of Liverpool
Head coach(es)	Amanda Reddin
Assistant coach(es)	Claire Duffy
Former coach(es)	Sarah Attwell
Medal record Women's gymnastics Competitor for the United Kingdom World Cup Silver 2010 Glasgow Balance Beam Bronze 2010 Porto Floor British Championships Gold 2011 All-Around Gold 2011 Floor Gold 2010 All-Around Gold 2008 Balance Beam Silver 2011 Balance Beam Silver 2011 Uneven Bars Silver 2010 Balance Beam Silver 2009 Balance Beam Silver 2008 Floor Bronze 2010 Floor Bronze 2010 Uneven Bars Bronze 2008 All-Around

Hannah Kate Whelan (born 1 July 1992 in Singapore) is a British artistic gymnast from Stockport. She was the youngest member of the 2008 Summer Olympic British team where she helped the team to a 9th place finish. As of 2011, she is ranked 1st in Great Britain having won two consecutive British Championship titles in 2010 and 2011.

Career

Hannah began gymnastics when she was six years old. Her talent at a local gymnastic class was noted and she began training at South Manchester Gymnastics Club under coach Helen Hall. She also once trained the Stockport-based Vernon Gymnastic Club. Now she is coached by Amanda Reddin at the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club where she trains alongside teammate Beth Tweddle.

In 2008, she first competed as a senior in the British Championships where she won a Gold on beam, Silver on Floor and Bronze in the All-Around. Consequently she was selected for the British 2008 Summer Olympics team in Beijing, where the team finished in 9th place.

In 2009 she competed in the European Championships in Milan where she came 17th in the all-around finals. She later competed in the British Championships where she helped the City of Liverpool win the team final, and won a silver on beam and placed 5th in the all-around.

In 2010 she became the British All-Around champion, as well as picking up medals on beam, uneven bars and floor. She went on to compete in the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam where she helped the British Women's team to 7th place - their highest ranking in a world championships at that time. She also made it to the All-Around final where she placed 17th. She competed in the World Cup in Glasgow where she won a silver on Beam.

In 2011, she became both English and British all-around champion and was named Liverpool Young Sports Person of the Year. She competed in the European Championships where she placed 13th in the All-Around and 8th on Beam. In October, she helped anchor the British women's team in the preliminary rounds of the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, where they qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the team went on to place 5th in the final - the highest a British team (men or women) had ever ranked at a world championships. Hannah went on to compete in the all-Around final where she finished in 9th place.

Personal life

Despite missing much of her final school year due to training, Hannah achieved seven B's and a C in her GCSE exams. She is currently studying Sports Development at John Moores University in Liverpool.

External links

• Official Site of Hannah Whelan
• Hannah Whelan at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Telegraph 2012 Olympic profile