Kristian James Thomas (born 14 February 1989 in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

) is a British former artistic gymnast. A long-standing member of both the England and Great Britain men's teams, he was a member of the British team that won gold in the 2012 European Championships team event, and a historic bronze in the same event at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. He won his first global individual medal in the 2013 World Championships, a bronze in vault; it was also the first global medal ever won in vault by a British male gymnast. In 2015 he won his first major international title, gold in the floor exercise at the

2015 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 6th European European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Men's and European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual Championships was held from 15 to 19 April 2015 at the Park&Suites Arena in M ...

. Thomas was coached by Michelle Bradley and Alexei Popov, and is a member of the Earls gymnastics club. He was born in

. On 19 October 2017 Kristian announced his retirement from gymnastics.

Junior career

In 2006, Thomas attended the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where he placed 12th and helped the English gymnastics team win the bronze medal.

Senior career

Thomas rose to prominence in British gymnastics, when he won the British all-around title in 2008. Floor is his best event, and during his Senior career he has won several silver medals on floor in International competitions. At the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London, he placed 6th in the All-Around. He was also part of the British men's team that represented Great Britain at the

2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held at the Rotterdam Ahoy indoor sporting arena in the Netherlands from 16 to 24 October 2010. In this year's championships, there was a total of 73 participating federations with 615 gymnast ...

in Rotterdam and the

2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 7–16, 2011, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Due to uncertainty over the nuclear situation following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the Féd� ...

in Tokyo. After the men's team initially failed to qualify to the

in London, Thomas gave a solid performance at the London Prepares FIG Olympic Test event. The men's team qualified more than 7 points ahead of the silver medal team, France, and Thomas placed 2nd in the All-Around behind teammate Daniel Purvis, as well as qualifying to several finals. In the finals he won a Bronze on Floor, Bronze on Vault and Gold on High Bar.

2012

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

At the London Olympics, Thomas was part of the bronze medal-winning GB men's team, competing on 30 July 2012 at the

North Greenwich Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...

. In this team final, he vaulted with a massive score of 16.550. In October, 2013, Thomas competed at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. In the vault final, he won the bronze with the score of 15.233, behind Yang Hak-Seon and

Steven Legendre Steven Michael Legendre (born May 5, 1989) is a retired American gymnast who competed for the University of Oklahoma Sooners men's gymnastics team from 2008 to 2011 and was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team. ...

2014

European Championships

On May 19–25, 2014, at the 2014 European Championships in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. Thomas along with his teammates ( Daniel Keatings, Daniel Purvis, Max Whitlock, Sam Oldham) won Team Great Britain the silver medal behind

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

with a total score of 262.087 points. In event finals, Thomas won the bronze medal in high bar (14.808) behind teammate Sam Oldham.

Commonwealth Games

In July and August, at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

held in Glasgow, Thomas contributed a score of 58.599 for the England team and won gold. He qualified for the vault final with a score of 15.100, and also finished in 8th in the Floor final. With a score of 15.033 he also qualified for the Horizontal bar final. He won a silver for vault with a score 14.499, coming behind Canadian gymnast Scott Morgan. Thomas scored 14.966 on Horizontal Bar, matching teammate Nile Wilson's score, but scoring lower on execution to win silver.

Post-retirement

In January 2022, Thomas became the Player Care & Engagement Manager at the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. In October 2022, Thomas ran the TCS London Marathon.

References

Kristian Thomas
athlete profile on the official site of the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Kristian British male artistic gymnasts Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Living people 1989 births Gymnasts at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games English male artistic gymnasts 21st-century English sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in gymnastics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in gymnastics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in gymnastics