Olympic medallist and Commonwealth champion Nile Wilson announces retirement after failing to recovery from neck surgery
- The 24-year-old had been hoping to compete in Tokyo this summer
- But Wilson has admitted defeat in his battle against a series of injuries
- He became Great Britain’s first Olympic medallist on the high bar in 2016
Nile Wilson has retired from gymnastics due to injury – six months before the Olympics.
The 24-year-old had been hoping to compete in Tokyo this summer and emulate the bronze medal he won at Rio 2016 in the horizontal bar.
But Wilson has never fully recovered from the bulging disc he suffered in his neck after the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which forced him to have corrective surgery and led to him battling depression.
Nile Wilson has admitted defeat in his battle against a series of career-threatening injuries
Announcing his retirement on Instagram, the Leeds lad wrote: ‘Today I hang up my hand guards and retire from the professional sport of gymnastics.
‘Unfortunately my body just couldn’t keep up and that’s OK. It is my time to move on and I can’t wait for the next chapter.
‘I was a young boy with a dream. With a hell of a lot of work and belief I am living proof that you can achieve anything you want in this life. Over and out, it’s been a f****** blast.’
Wilson caused a stir last summer when he became the most high-profile active male British gymnast to speak out about a ‘culture of abuse’ at British Gymnastics.
He said gymnasts were treated like ‘pieces of meat’, revealing he had made a complaint against his home club Leeds but it was ‘brushed under the carpet’.
Wilson also suggested speaking out could cost him selection for the Tokyo Games, but it is injury which has ultimately forced his decision.