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 European Championships team event, and a historic bronze in the same event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. 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.
Thomas was coached by Michelle Bradley and Alexei Popov, and is a member of the Earls gymnastics club.[2] He was born in Wolverhampton.
On 19 October 2017 Kristian announced his retirement from gymnastics.[citation needed]
Junior career
In 2006, Thomas attended the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, where he placed 12th and helped the English gymnastics team win the bronze medal.[3]
After the men's team initially failed to qualify to the 2012 Summer Olympics 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.[4] In the finals he won a Bronze on Floor, Bronze on Vault and Gold on High Bar.[5][6]
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 .[7]
In this team final, he vaulted with a massive score of 16.550.
In July and August, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games 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.
References
^"Kristian Thomas". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
^[1] British Gymnastics Media Guide for 2011 Worlds
