Sam Oldham

At 31 years old, Sam Oldham has this physical status:

Sam Joshua Oldham (born 17 February 1993) is an English artistic gymnast who represents the United Kingdom.

He was a member of the British men's team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, which took home bronze in the team competition.

At the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, he is a three-time European champion and took individual horizontal bar gold.

Personal life

Sam Oldham was born on February 17th, 1993, to Bob and Dawn Oldham. Oldham and his three children currently live in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, England.

Crossdale Drive Primary School in Keyworth was Sam's first school. Oldham continued to Rushcliffe School in West Bridgford before leaving the school at 14 to be home-taught so he could concentrate on learning.

Oldham began gymnastics at the age of seven on the advice of his teacher, but he was also a natural footballer. Oldham was a member of the Notts County F.C. Until the club shuts it down, the Center of Excellence as a forward was a forward. Despite receiving calls from Nottingham Forest F.C., the latter was not disappointed. Oldham, F.C., and Derby County F.C., wanted to concentrate on gymnastics. Oldham's father and grandfather were both footballers, and his younger brother, who is now playing in the Nottingham Forest youth program, is also a footballer.

Oldham is a footballer who plays for Manchester United F.C. Vitaly Scherbo is the gymnast he would most like to compete against after winning six golds at the 1992 Summer Olympics, according to a diehard fan and who considers him the best gymnast he would love to compete against.

Source

Career

At the age of 14, Oldham left Rushcliffe and began training with the 2008 Summer Olympics-bound gymnasts, where he lodged with fellow gymnast Cameron MacKenzie. Louis Smith, a potential pommel horse bronze medalist, was one of his training partners. Smith thanked Oldham for being his mentor in the run-up to Beijing.

Oldham broke his wrist during his floor routine at the European Gymnastics Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he was the youngest member of the British team. However, he was able to finish his routine one-handed and helped the British team win gold in the junior team competition. A Castle Donington-based firm decided to sponsor Oldham's 2012 Summer Olympics, late in 2008.

Oldham was selected to the British team for the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival, where he earned team gold. He was chosen to be in the British delegation to the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tampere, Finland, where he won two gold medals in the pommel horse and parallel bars events later this year. In 2009, Oldham was named BBC East Midlands' Junior Sports Personality of the Year for his efforts in Tampere and for sweeping all seven golds at the English national championships.

Oldham captured three gold medals, including the European junior champion in the team all-around, horizontal bar, and individual all-around at the 2010 European Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, England. Oldham gained qualification to represent Great Britain at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore by winning the individual all-around competition.

Oldham qualified second overall for the all-around challenge in Singapore and qualified to the finals in four other events – the floor, pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.

Oldham was in fourth place in the all-around final when he collapsed from the horizontal bar, his final apparatus, placing fifth. However, he recovered from a setback to win silver in the pommel horse event, missing out by 0.25 points. Oldham won gold in the horizontal bar event, the same unit in which he had fallen during the all-around competition. Despite finishing first out of the eight finalists, Oldham's score of 14.375 points stood out throughout the year and was good enough for gold.

Oldham's coach Paul Hall said Oldham has a chance to participate in London's 2012 Summer Olympics, while Smith said Oldham is a "great talent" and British head gymnastics coach Andre Popov predicted that Oldham will be the Olympic champions.

Oldham has considered competing for the 2010 Commonwealth Games team. However, this scheme was shelved when he was selected to the British senior team for the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, according to Oldham.

Oldham was nominated for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award and Junior Sportsperson of the Year at the Nottinghamshire Sports Awards in 2010, the latter of which he received.

Oldham was selected as the United Kingdom's reserve gymnast to compete in the 2010 senior world championships in Rotterdam. He was the youngest member of the British men's team. The British team qualified for the final and finished seventh in the team all-around competition, though Oldham did not participate in the tournament. Oldham was included in the British squad, along with Samuel Hunter, Daniel Purvis, Theo Seager, Louis Smith, and Kristian Thomas, as the youngest member of the delegation representing Great Britain in Berlin, Germany, from 6 to 10 April. Oldham qualified as the second reserve for the parallel bars final and in fourth place for the final on the horizontal bar. In the horizontal bar final, he came in fourth, his first major senior final appearance.

Oldham had been expected to be a part of the London Prepares series gymnastics Olympic qualifier in January 2012, but fell out after breaking his collarbone early in 2010, and further injured himself during that competition. The British team secured qualification to the gymnastics events at the 2012 Summer Olympics without Oldham.

Despite his injury setback, Oldham won all-around silver at the British national championships, which doubled as the final selection trial for the Olympic Games. Oldham attributed his success, which he said was "better than I'd ever desired," and that he was voted to the British squad for the Olympics over Dan Keatings, to his final chance to impress the Olympic selectors after his injury layoff.

Oldham, 19, was the youngest member of the British team for gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the men's team all-around final at the North Greenwich Arena on July 30th.

The 2014 European Championships in Sofia took place on May 19–25. Oldham, along with his colleagues (Daniel Keatings, Daniel Purvis, Max Whitlock, Kristian Thomas) won Team Great Britain the silver medal behind Russia by a score of 262.087 points. Oldham claimed the silver medal in high bar (14.8866), behind 2012 Olympic champion Epke Zonderland, in the event finals. Oldham returned to action nine months later after suffering ankle ligament damage at the Commonwealth Games in July 2014. Despite being third overall in the all-around and gold medal in the final Olympic trial, he did not make the squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Oldham announced his retirement from elite gymnastics on September 14th, 2021, following the 2021 Men's Artistic British Championships, where he earned a gold medal on the Horizontal Bar with a score of 13.900.

Source