Craig Heap

Craig Heap
Personal information
Full name	Craig Heap
Nickname(s)	Jarter and Heapie
Country represented	United Kingdom  England
Born	July 10, 1973 (1973-07-10) (age 38) Burnley, England
Hometown	Burnley
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Medal record Commonwealth Games Gold 1998 Kuala Lumpur Gold 2002 Manchester

Craig Heap (born in Burnley, Lancashire, England) is a retired Commonwealth Games Gold medal winning gymnast who has represented England over 100 times in various international gymnastic competitions.^[1] He has been the English and British champion as well as the captain on many occasions and has won 5 World and 5 European titles in his career.^[2]

History

Heap began as a gymnast when he was just nine years old after his parents took him to classes out of simple desperation as he was very hyperactive as a child, in an interview with the BBC he stated;

I was a bit of a tearaway as a kid, always jumping over the sofas and racing around the yard. My sister Nicola used to go to gym classes and one day my mum said: 'Instead of leaping over the furniture, get yourself down to the gym with your sister.^[3]

After progressing as a junior gymnast Heap eventually became professional and trained full time though he struggled for money as the grants from Sport England were not vast sums of money nor was much money generated through sponsorship.^[3] A series of injuries only helped to exacerbate his financial shortfalls as long periods out meant even less money. Heap had many such injuries throughout his career, undergoing five operations on his left elbow, surgery to both shoulders, calves, shins, an ankle and a wrist.^[3] Since retiring from Gymnastics Heap has taken a more media related role, appearing on Blue Peter, BBC's 'They Think its all Over', TV advert for Physio Sport, 'Simply the Best' and commentating for the BBC on Gymnastics. He now visits schools around the UK, recently visiting Musselburgh Grammar School near Edinburgh, Scotland and The Hereford Academy in West Midlands, England, he has also visited Hathershaw College of Technology and Sport in Oldham, Lancashire and was a guest speaker at their Prize Presentation Evening, on the 12th November 2009. He also visited willowburn sports centre on 8 December and enjoyed a good game of netball with alnwick juniors. They would like to thank him, especially the red team who he helped on the way to win that game. He is currently engaged to Emma Morris and they plan to wed in September 2009. He is the current face of 'TenaFella' the new incontinence product for men.

References

1. ^ summer olympic games national park at olymfituk.co.uk
2. ^ Commercial photographer UK England for Studio Photography
3. ^ ^{a b c} "English prepare double assault". BBC News. 5 June 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/commonwealthgames2002/hi/gymnastics/newsid_1970000/1970965.stm. Retrieved 2 January 2010. 

and he also visited Upton Hall School FCJ, Wirral. He was the guest speaker at All Hallows Catholic High School's Sports awards evening in 2010

External links

• Official site
• Craig Heap at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique

crag is a funny cool frend

Persondata
Name	Craig Heap
Alternative names
Short description	Gymnast
Date of birth	10 July 1973
Place of birth	Burnley, England
Date of death
Place of death