Nile Wilson

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Nile Wilson
Personal information
Full nameNile Michael Wilson
Nickname(s)Wilsonator All round Legend
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Born (1996-01-17) 17 January 1996 (age 28)
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
HometownPudsey, Leeds
Height166 cm (5 ft 5 in)
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
Years on national team2012–2020 (GBR)
ClubLeeds Gymnastics Club
Retired14 January 2021
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Men's artistic gymnastics
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Horizontal bar
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2015 Glasgow Team
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2016 Bern Horizontal bar
Silver medal – second place 2016 Bern Team
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Team
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Horizontal bar
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Team
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast All-around
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Horizontal bar
Silver medal – second place 2014 Glasgow Parallel bars
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast Rings
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast Parallel Bars
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Glasgow All-around
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2009–present
Genres
Subscribers1,550,000+[1]
Total views352 million+[1]
100,000 subscribers2017
1,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: 3 July 2022

Nile Michael Wilson (born 17 January 1996)[2] is a former British artistic gymnast. He won an Olympic bronze medal in the men's horizontal bar at the 2016 Summer Olympics; he was a world medallist as a member of the silver-medal winning British team at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, the first world men's team medal in British gymnastics history. A five-time Commonwealth Games champion, he won the all-around title in 2018, and is a former European horizontal bar champion, the first Briton to win the title.[3] In January 2021, Wilson announced his retirement from competitive gymnastics due to injuries and mental health concerns.[4] In March 2023, he won the fifteenth series of Dancing on Ice with dance partner Olivia Smart.[5]

Personal life[edit]

Wilson was born 17 January 1996 in Leeds to Sally and Neil Wilson[2][6] and is the great nephew of Duncan Fearnley.[7] He has a sister, Joanna. He attended 'Farsley Farfield' Primary School and Pudsey Grangefield School.[8] Wilson runs a YouTube channel where he posts vlogs about his workouts, daily life and gymnastics (Nile Wilson) where he has more than 1.51 million subscribers, and another channel with his father (Neil and Nile Vlogs) which has more than 171,000 subscribers.

Early career[edit]

Wilson was crowned British Junior Champion in March 2014 and received the Young Sportsman male award at the Leeds Sports Awards. He competed at the 2014 European Championships in Sofia in May, winning five gold medals to become the first British gymnast ever to win five gold medals at the European Junior Gymnastics Championships. He was then selected to compete for the England Commonwealth Games team, graduating to senior level.

Senior career[edit]

2014 Commonwealth Games[edit]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Wilson contributed a score of 86.607 for the England team to win the Team Gold and qualify second for the Individual all-around final, behind teammate Max Whitlock.[9] Wilson then won a bronze medal in the all-around final with a score of 87.965. He won silver in the Parallel bars final with a score of 15.433 behind Scottish gymnast Daniel Purvis. Wilson took his first individual Commonwealth gold in the Horizontal Bar final with a score of 14.966. His teammate Kristian Thomas took silver.[10]

2015 World Championships[edit]

Wilson competed at the 2015 Gymnastics World Championships in Glasgow. He placed tenth all around in qualification with 88.365, but did not advance due to the two per country rule.[11] Wilson competed on three apparatus in the team final: Still Rings (14.933), Parallel Bars (15.033) and Horizontal bar (14.833), contributing to the team silver medal.[12] Wilson also qualified to the Parallel Bars final, placing 8th with a score of 15.233.[13]

2016 Summer Olympics[edit]

Wilson competed at the AT&T American Cup on 5 March 2016. He struggled in the competition, receiving execution scores below eight on three apparatuses. He did, however, receive the third highest score on parallel bars, scoring 15.266. He came fifth overall with a score of 84.131.[14]

On 12 July 2016, Wilson was named to the 2016 Olympic team along with Louis Smith, Max Whitlock, Kristian Thomas and Brinn Bevan. At the 2016 Olympics, Wilson became the first British gymnast to win the bronze medal on the horizontal bar, with a score of 15.466.[15]

2017 World Championships[edit]

In January 2017, Wilson suffered an injury to his left ankle ligament while training, which required surgery.[16] He recovered in time to compete in the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships where he finished sixth in the all around final.[17]

2018 Commonwealth Games[edit]

In 2018, Wilson was selected to represent England and compete at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia. On 5 April, he won a gold medal in the men's artistic team all-around[18] and qualified in first place for the individual all-around which he went on to win for his second gold medal.[19] He added a third gold on the horizontal bar,[20] and won silver on the rings[21] and on the parallel bars.[22]

Wilson underwent surgery on his neck in February 2019 to fix a bulging disc that was causing arm pain, and as a result, he missed a number of competitions that year, including the Birmingham World Cup and European Championships.[23]

Retirement from gymnastics[edit]

On 14 January 2021, Wilson uploaded a video entitled "I've Retired from Gymnastics" to his YouTube channel, in which he announced his official retirement from competitive gymnastics.[24] In the video, he cited health problems caused by gymnastics as the main factor in his retirement.[25] In September 2022, Wilson gave a TED Talk about mental health's impact on professional athletes.[26]

Following his retirement from professional gymnastics, Wilson has raised allegations of a culture of abuse within British gymnastics. Whilst speaking with BBC Sport, Wilson stated that he was "without a doubt" abused during his training, was subject to "emotional manipulation", and was forced to "live in fear" of his coaches and the consequences of underperforming. Wilson also informed BBC Sport that he waited until after his retirement to raise these allegations as he feared he would face professional consequences, including deselection from the British Olympic team, if he spoke up whilst continuing to work as a professional gymnast.[27] In March 2023, he won the fifteenth series of Dancing on Ice with dance partner Olivia Smart.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "About NileWilsonGymnast". YouTube.
  2. ^ a b "Nile Wilson profile". British gymnastics. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  3. ^ "GB Men Win Historic Silver at World Championships". BBC Sport. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  4. ^ "I've Retired from Gymnastics..." YouTube. 14 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b "ITV Dancing on Ice fans share same complaint over 2023 final as winner crowned". Manchester Evening News. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  6. ^ Gray, James (16 August 2016). "Rio 2016: Who is Team GB gymnast Nile Wilson? How did he win Olympic bronze?". Daily Express.
  7. ^ FACING 100MPH CRICKET BALL!! **Neil & Nile Vs England Squad**, retrieved 7 November 2019
  8. ^ Sobot, Lee (26 July 2015). "Gymnastics: Nile's flying the flag for Leeds at Commonwealth Games". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Gymnastic Artistic Men's all-around qualification". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  10. ^ "Glasgow Commonwealth results". 2014 Glasgow. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Artistic – Men's Individual Qualification". Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  12. ^ "Artistic – Men's Team Final". Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  13. ^ "Historic World Championships come to a close". British Gymnastics. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  14. ^ "2016 AT&T American Cup" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 5 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  15. ^ "Rio Olympics 2016: Nile Wilson wins Great Britain's first high bar medal". BBC. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  16. ^ McDaid, David (13 January 2017). "Nile Wilson: GB gymnast injured after 'freak accident' in training". BBC Sport.
  17. ^ McDaid, David (6 October 2017), "World Gymnastics Championships: Great Britain's Nile Wilson finishes sixth", BBC
  18. ^ "Commonwealth Games: Day One medal round-up". Sky Sports. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  19. ^ "Commonwealth Games: England's Nile Wilson wins all-around gold, James Hall silver". BBC Sport. 7 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Commonwealth Games: Nile Wilson wins third gold as Alice Kinsella seals first Commonwealth title". 9 April 2018.
  21. ^ "Rings gold & silver for England". BBC Sport. 8 April 2018.
  22. ^ "Commonwealth Games: Day five medal round-up". Sky Sports. 9 April 2018.
  23. ^ "Nile Wilson to miss British Championships, World Cup and European Championships after surgery". BBC Sport. 20 February 2019.
  24. ^ "I've Retired from Gymnastics... - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  25. ^ "Leeds' Olympic and Commonwealth Games hero Nile Wilson retires through injury". www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  26. ^ Wilson, Nile (30 November 2022). What can make me an Olympic champion can also kill me. Retrieved 23 April 2024 – via www.ted.com.
  27. ^ Roan, Dan (10 August 2020). "Nile Wilson: British gymnasts are treated like 'pieces of meat'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 November 2021.

External links[edit]

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