'You can feel the buzz around the place'- Gymnastics club of Peterborough's Jake Jarman so proud of their bronze medallists and already feeling the positive effects

Jake Jarman’s medal-winning performance at the Paris Olympics has brought a buzz and excitement to the whole of Huntingdon Gymnastics Club.

That is the assessment of Deputy Head Coach of Men’s Artistic Gymnastics James Barley, who has spent the past week, along with fellow coaches, parents and young athletes alike, cheering on Jake in the French capital.

Around 300 people packed into the club last Monday (June 30) to watch Jake and the rest of Team GB finish and impressive fourth in the Team final, which he followed up with a strong showing in the All-Around competition where the Gunthorpe gymnast finished a credible sixth place.

The doors of the gym were also flung open again at the weekend and Jake went in the Floor and Vault finals and it was in the Floor where he achieved his crowning glory of the games, on Olympic bronze medal.

He was so close to the gold medal too finishing only a fraction behind Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat in silver (14.966) and Carlos Yulo of the Philippines in gold (15.000) with a score of 14.933.

It was so close to a double medal games but Jake was sadly pushed out of the medals in the Vault by the final performer Armenia’s Artur Davtyan.

The club could not be prouder of its superstar though.

James said: “We had a big celebration watching the team final in the gym. There must have been 2 or 300 who came to watch and support him. It was really nice to see the whole club getting behind Jake and supporting him.

“We then opened the doors once again to watch him in the floor and vault finals and it was breathtaking to watch him compete and be at the Olympics. This is a normal guy that’s in the gym that we laugh and joke with and the boys look up to during their sessions. Then seeing him perform 20 clean routines at the Olympics was just phenomenal, inspirational!

“He’s always in an around the gym chatting to people. He's just another person but another person who has done some phenomenal gymnastics and come away with a bronze medal.”

While still relatively close to the beginning of his career at the age of 22, Jake can already add Olympic bronze to his World Championship gold in the Vault, European gold in the Vault and Four Commonwealth golds as well as a host of other medals from the World and European Championships.

Coaches at the club has tipped Jake to continue his rise and backed him to earn even greater prizes when the next Olympics rolls around in 2028 in Los Angeles.

James added: “I’ve been here at the club for nearly seven years now and it’s been so good to watch Jake continue to improve and develop.

“He was just finishing under 16s when I joined and now he’s a senior athlete. It’s been great to watch him mature and realise his ability.

“His spatial awareness has always been phenomenal and watching him take his natural talent and start to understand it, work with it and be determined to improve over the last few years has been really exciting.

“His floor routines all the way through the competition have been 14.9s or close to that and to be that consistent- I know, as a coach- has taken so much time in the gym to do.

"He’s worked so hard to take his natural ability to repeat that time and time again. It’s not just talent, it’s just consistent gymnastics.

“Watching that journey and seeing Jake become so good at his sport has been really inspiring for the staff as well as the gymnasts.

“The scores on the floor were so close in the final and you can always say ‘what could have been’ but there is potential there for more medals in the future.

"Four years isn’t that far away but looking at how he competed over the last few days, there is definitely more to come!”

The club as a whole has benefitted from Jake’s success with a boom in its already high popularity.

James added: “Having someone like Jake at the club, changes the whole culture. You can feel this buzz and excitement around the place. There’s definitely a really supportive culture throughout all of the parents, coaches and athletes which drives everyone to want to be the best they can be, like Jake is being.

“Of course it increases interest too, people want to come and train at the same place an Olympian trains and that’s really exciting.

“We’ve always had long waiting lists and we try and see as many people as we can to give them the opportunity.

“It is difficult and it becomes more difficult after the Olympics when so many want to be involved but we’ll do everything we can to support them.”