Nile Michael Wilson (born 17 January 1996) is a former British artistic gymnast. He won an Olympic bronze medal in the men's horizontal bar at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

; he was a world medallist as a member of the silver-medal winning British team at the

2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was the 46th edition of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The competition was held from 23 October – 1 November 2015 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, United Kingdom, and is the first time ...

, 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. In January 2021, Wilson announced his retirement from competitive gymnastics due to injuries and mental health concerns. In March 2023, he won the fifteenth series of ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series broadcast from 2006 to 2014 and then from 2018 to 2025. It was presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. Other previous hosts include Phillip Schofield and Christine Lampard. The series ...

'' with dance partner Olivia Smart.

Personal life

Wilson was born 17 January 1996 in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

to Sally and Neil Wilson and is the great nephew of Duncan Fearnley. He has a sister, Joanna. He attended '

Farsley Farsley is a village in the City of Leeds, Leeds district, in West Yorkshire, England, west of Leeds city centre and east of Bradford near Pudsey. Before 1974, Farsley was part of the Municipal Borough of Pudsey, Borough of Pudsey. Before 193 ...

Farfield' Primary School and Pudsey Grangefield School. 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

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Commonwealth Games team, graduating to senior level.

Senior career

2014 Commonwealth Games

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 ...

, 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. 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 Daniel Scott Purvis (born 13 November 1990 in Crosby, England) is a Scottish former international elite artistic gymnast, and three-time British all-around champion in men's artistic gymnastics. He trained at Southport YMCA and was coached by J ...

. Wilson took his first individual Commonwealth gold in the Horizontal Bar final with a score of 14.966. His teammate

Kristian Thomas Kristian James Thomas (born 14 February 1989 in Wolverhampton) 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 Europe ...

took silver.

2015 World Championships

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. 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. Wilson also qualified to the Parallel Bars final, placing 8th with a score of 15.233.

2016 Summer Olympics

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. On 12 July 2016, Wilson was named to the 2016 Olympic team along with Louis Smith, Max Whitlock,

and Brinn Bevan. At the 2016 Olympics, Wilson became the first British gymnast to win the bronze medal on the

horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syst ...

, with a score of 15.466.

2017 World Championships

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

2018 Commonwealth Games

In 2018, Wilson was selected to represent England and compete at 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 ...

in the Gold Coast,

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 ...

. On 5 April, he won a gold medal in the men's artistic team all-around and qualified in first place for the individual all-around which he went on to win for his second gold medal. He added a third gold on the

, and won silver on the rings and on the

parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars approximately long and positioned at above the floor. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally wear ...

. 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.

Retirement from gymnastics

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. In the video, he cited health problems caused by gymnastics as the main factor in his retirement. In September 2022, Wilson gave a

TED Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

about mental health impacts on professional athletes. Following his retirement from professional gymnastics, Wilson has raised allegations of a culture of abuse within British gymnastics. Whilst speaking with

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, 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. In March 2023, he won the fifteenth series of ''

'' with dance partner Olivia Smart.

References

External links