Commonwealth Games 2022: Father of Peterborough's Jake Jarman reflects on a 'crazy few days' after son wins four Commonwealth gold medals

The father of Jake Jarman has spoken of a “crazy few days” which has seen him watch his son become a four-time Commonwealth champion.

Gunthorpe-based gymnast Jake Jarman has taken the games by storm by becoming he first English man to win four golds at the same games since shooter Mick Gault 24 years ago in Kuala Lumpur.

The 20-year-old sealed the fourth of his golds, in the vault final on Tuesday (August 2) by storming to victory by 0.283 marks ahead his nearest rival.

He has been cheered on in Birmingham by his dad Tony, a renowned 800m runner in his youth, his mum Anna and his girlfriend.

The family were able to celebrate on Tuesday night (August 2) before Tony headed back to work the very next morning.

He said: “It’s been a crazy, crazy few days; just such an awesome experience. Yesterday was a fantastic evening, we were invited to the England Hub and we were celebrating with all of the team.

"It’s known as the friendly games and I’ve really felt that, we’ve spoken to everyone.

"Me and his mum watch all of his events but we’ve never experienced a crowd so involved in the action, I’ve never heard ‘oohs and ahhs’ from a gymnastics crowd before.

"We are normally quite calm and enjoy ourselves but we both felt really nervous, there were a lot of ups and downs but mostly ups. The whole thing has been quite draining.

"Before the team event Jake told me he was feeling nervous and that’s the first time that he has ever said that but he said it was the support of the crowd that really helped him.”

Jake began his gymnastics career in Peterborough and is still based in the city.

He trains at Huntingdon Gymnastics Club and his success follows that of Louis Smith, who won Commonwealth gold in both the Melbourne 2006 games and Glasgow 2014.

Emulating Smith’s success at Olympic level will be a future target for Jarman, who has been described as a “wonderkid” by teammate Joe Fraser.

But next on his horizons will be the European Championships in Munich which begin in Munich on August 11, and then the World Championships in Liverpool in October in what is set to be a busy year for Jarman.

Tony added: “We’ll get to see him for a day and then we will be back in the gym working for Munich.

“He’s such a calm, well thought through and balanced young man.

"It’s not just the pride of seeing him win four golds but as seeing the was he’s managed himself to deal with all the attention that has come after and the way he has supported his teammates

"It has been like seeing a light switch come on with him, he’s been working really hard and has been doing everything right.

"I can see the change in him, he’s such a calm pro now and I can see that something really good is happening."