Gymnast Claudia Fragapane has admitted that her fifth Commonwealth Games gold will be her last after tasting team success at Arena Birmingham. Bristolian Fragapane, 24, became the first English woman to win four gold medals at a single edition of the Commonwealth Games for 84 years in Glasgow in 2014.
But, after contending with a series of career-threatening injuries, including concussion and operations on her ankle and elbow, just to make the team for this summer's Games, she ruled out being around to compete in four years' time when the event will be staged in Victoria, Australia. Fragapane brought the house down with a stirring floor routine at Birmingham and, whilst her score of 12.450 was not enough to land her a place in the individual final, her performance proved a fitting send-off from Commonwealth duty.
After embracing her 27-year-old team-mate Kelly Simm, who also won a medal in Glasgow, the former St Bernadette Catholic Secondary School pupil said: "This is definitely our last Commonwealth Games because we’re not going to go on for four more years. We shared a really lovely moment, we were together in 2014 [winning gold] and eight years later we’re still carrying on.
