Dominick Cunningham

Dominick "Dom" Adam Cunningham (born 9 May 1995) is a British artistic gymnast.[1] He won a team gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and the Individual Floor Gold at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow.[2][3]

Dominick Cunningham
Full nameDominick Adam Cunningham
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Born (1995-05-09) 9 May 1995
Birmingham, England
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior Elite
Years on national team2013–present
ClubCity of Birmingham GC
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
European Championships
2018 GlasgowFloor Exercise
2018 GlasgowTeam
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
2018 Gold CoastTeam
2018 Gold CoastVault

Early life

Cunningham was born in Birmingham and is from Kings Heath, a suburb in the south of the West Midlands city.[4][5]

As a child, Cunningham played football and ice hockey but was captivated by gymnastics the most. His parents supported his interest despite struggling to pay his gymnastics fees. His mother took him to his first gymnastics session aged 5. He started competitions at age 7. He also took some boxing lessons.[6][7]

Cunningham was regularly bullied at primary school for participating in gymnastics and was subjected to name-calling. Labelled "gay" and accused of taking up a "girls' sport", he has said he felt humiliated and hid in his mother's car, refusing to go into school. Cunningham said "I was only about 9 or 10 years old at the time and I didn't want to go to school because people were calling me names because of what sport I did. I felt humiliated really. I remember just coming home and crying about it."[8]

Cunningham has trained at City of Birmingham Gymnastics Club in Perry Barr[9][10][11] and the Earls Gymnastics Club in Halesowen.[12]

Cunningham attended Bishop Challoner Catholic College in Birmingham until 2013.[13]

Career

Cunningham had success at the junior level at the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival and the 2011 European Youth Olympic Festival.[14]

Cunningham was a member of the British team for the 2017 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in April 2017, advancing to the floor exercise and vault event finals.[15]

2018

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia, Cunningham was part of the team that won gold on the men's all-around event.[16] Although he finished third in the all-around team event behind Nile Wilson and James Hall, he did not qualify for the individual all-around as only two competitors from each country may qualify.[17] He won a bronze on the vault.[18]

Cunningham attended the official handover ceremony at the 2018 Commonwealth Games as an ambassador representing his home city of Birmingham, which will be hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games.[19][20][21]

At the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Cunningham won gold in the floor exercise.[22] He also won a silver as part of the team.[23]

In his first World Championships at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Cunningham narrowly missed out on a bronze medal by 0.009 marks in the men's vault final.[24]

2019

At the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany, Cunningham was part of the team that finished in fifth place in qualifications, qualifying the Great Britain team a place at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[25] Cunningham and the team went on to retain their fifth place in the team final.[26] Individually, Cunningham qualified to the floor exercise final where he placed eighth (13.566) and the vault final where he placed fifth (14.566).[27]

Cunningham sustained a leg injury at the 2019 European Championships in Poland, which left him on an 18-week rehabilitation programme to be able to walk again.[28][29]

References
  1. "Dominick Cunningham Gymnast Profile". www.british-gymnastics.org. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  2. "Cunningham wins European floor gold". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  3. "Watch: Cunningham's gold-winning floor routine". BBC Sport. 2018-08-12. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  4. "Birmingham gymnasts fly out to Commonwealth Games". ITV News. 2018-03-24. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  5. McKinney, Emma (2012-07-16). "Gymnast Dominick Cunningham impresses nursery children in Moseley with Olympic torch stories". birminghammail. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  6. "Gymnast Cunningham on beating bullying". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  7. "Dominick Cunningham". birmingham.livingmag.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  8. "Gymnast Cunningham on beating bullying". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  9. "Dominick Cunningham Gymnast Profile". www.british-gymnastics.org. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  10. "CUNNINGHAM Dominick - FIG Athlete Profile". www.gymnastics.sport. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  11. "Gymnast Gallery | City Of Birmingham Gymnastics Club". www.birminghamgymclub.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  12. "Dominick Cunningham: How I beat the bullies". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  13. "Dominick Cunningham - Fitness Suite Opening". bishopchalloner.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  14. "Dominick Cunningham Gymnast Profile". British Gymnastics.
  15. "GB men qualify for six finals on first day of 2017 European Championships".
  16. Broadbent, Rick (5 April 2018). "England win three gold medals in seven minutes at the Commonwealth Games". The Times.
  17. "Commonwealth Games: England win gold in men's team final". BBC Sport. 5 April 2018.
  18. "Australia's Remkes wins gold despite Tulloch brilliance". BBC Sport. 9 April 2018.
  19. Staff Reporter (2018-04-10). "Birmingham Lord Mayor on Australia visit to build Commonwealth bridges". I Am Birmingham. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  20. Bains, Sanjeeta (2019-07-27). "Sporting stars celebrate Countdown to Commonwealth Games 2022". birminghammail. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  21. Council, Birmingham City. "Birmingham celebrates four years to go until the 2022 Commonwealth Games". www.birmingham.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  22. "European Championships 2018: Dominick Cunningham wins gold as Max Whitlock misses out". BBC Sport. 12 August 2018.
  23. "High bar falls cost British gymnasts as Russia takes European team gold". ESPN. 11 August 2018.
  24. "GB's Cunningham misses out on bronze by 0.009 marks". BBC Sport.
  25. "World final and Olympic place guaranteed by British men's team". British Gymnastics. 7 October 2019.
  26. "Men's team impress to place 5th in world final". British Gymnastics. 9 October 2019.
  27. "49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships results". FIG. 13 October 2019.
  28. "Cunningham injury concern in Poland". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  29. "Dom Cunningham bouncing back in time for Tokyo Olympics with Team England". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
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