Proud of his Filipino roots

LONDON • The Philippines are not part of the Commonwealth Games, having never been colonised by Britain.

But in Jake Jarman, they do have an athlete in Birmingham who takes pride in his Filipino roots.

While the 20-year-old was born in England and competes for the nation, he is also part-Filipino.

Jarman told The Philippine Star: "I lived in Cebu for two years, from age three until five. I am proud to have both Philippine and British heritage. I still get to talk to my family in Cebu, using Skype and they are always following my progress.

"I love Cebu and its great beaches, and I have very good memories of my time at school and with my cousins, Lola and Lolo."

Jarman is becoming one of the breakout stars of the Games after winning the floor gold yesterday for his third gold of the gymnastics competition after the all-around and team events.

He was only a reserve at last year's Tokyo Olympics, but has made a huge impact on what is his debut at a major tournament, rivalling Australian swim star and Olympic champion Emma McKeon, who also has three titles here.

Jarman now has the opportunity to become the first male British gymnast to win four golds at the same Games as he is among the favourites in today's vault final.

The chance to create history is not lost on Jarman, who was a relative unknown before these Games.

"This is a very new experience, I've never had a competition where I've done this well," he told local daily The South Wales Guardian yesterday. "I just want to keep the momentum going, I'm not going to sit back and relax.

"I know I can deliver medal standard routines, but I want to keep that out of my head, the added pressure doesn't help.

"You can't have a good competition if you don't have fun.

"That was the best routine I've done in my gymnastics career, to make a final is amazing and to deliver that routine when it really matters means so much to me. I'm looking forward to the vault final... if someone had told me last week I'd have three gold medals, I'd think they were crazy. I'll never get used to this feeling."

There was further cause for celebration among England's gymnasts as Joe Fraser won the pommel horse yesterday despite a fractured foot, ahead of Northern Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan (second) and Canada's Jayson Rampersad (third), while compatriot Georgia-Mae Fenton retained her uneven bars title - the first person to do so in the competition's history.

Englishman Courtney Tulloch also won the gold on the rings, finishing ahead of Cyprus' Sokratis Pilakouris and Canadian Chris Kaji respectively. In the men's 1,000m time-trial cycling event, Australian Matthew Glaetzer crossed the line first, with compatriot Thomas Cornish second and Nicholas Paul of Trinidad and Tobago third.