Annika Louise Reeder (born September 28, 1979 in

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, Great Britain) is a retired British

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. She was the first gymnast from Great Britain to compete in two

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, in 1996 and 2000. Reeder began gymnastics at the age of three in 1982, following in the footsteps of her sister Kirsty. She trained at the South Essex Gym Club under coach Rod Smith. She made her international debut at the 1993 Junior European Championships and entered the senior ranks in the following year. In 1994 in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

, Canada Reeder became England's youngest ever Commonwealth Games gold medallist at the age of fourteen, collecting golds in the team and the floor exercise. She collected a third gold medal at the Commonwealths in 1998. Reeder was also a European floor finalist in 1994, and a vault finalist in 1998. In the 1996 European Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, Reeder finished 14th in the all-around, the highest ranking recorded for a British athlete at the time. Reeder represented the UK at the 1994 team, 1994 individual, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. She was a two-time Champion and four-time silver medalist at British Nationals and the English Champion in 1996. Great Britain did not qualify to send a full team to the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, but were permitted to send two gymnasts to compete as individuals. Reeder was the higher-ranked of the two British gymnasts, placing 66th in the prelims. At the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney Australia, Reeder captained the British women's team. The squad finished 10th, its best Olympic placement ever. Annika qualified to the all-around finals, the culmination of a lifetime's ambition. However, her bid to compete in the all-around would be undone by the infamous vault fiasco. Prior to the all-around, unbeknownst to the athletes and coaches, the vaulting horse was set 2 inches (5 cm) too low. This completely altered gymnasts' pre and post-flight, and resulted in many crashes, falls and injuries. Reeder vaulted on the faulty apparatus and was, perhaps, the worst affected by the error. She was so injured on her vault attempts that she had to be helped off the mats and was forced to withdraw from the remainder of the competition.

Eponymous skill

Reeder has one eponymous skill listed in the Code of Points.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reeder, Annika 1979 births Living people British female artistic gymnasts English female artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts for Great Britain Gymnasts at the 1996 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2000 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Gymnasts at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Gymnasts at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Harlow Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games 20th-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in gymnastics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in gymnastics