Christopher Remkes is an Australian gymnast who has competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Christopher Remkes
Remkes for Gymnastics Australia in 2018
Personal information
Born (1996-09-03) September 3, 1996 (age 28)
Bacolod, Philippines
Height147 cm (4 ft 10 in)
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportGymnastics
Medal record
Men's gymnastics
Representing  Australia
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Vault
World Cup Final
Gold medal – first place 2017 Baku Vault
Gold medal – first place 2018 Melbourne Vault
Silver medal – second place 2016 Doha Vault
Silver medal – second place 2017 Melbourne Vault
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Cottbus Vault
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Melbourne Pommel

Early life

edit

An orphan, Christopher Remkes's date of birth is listed as 3 September 1996.[1] According to the orphanage that took care of him, he was abandoned as a two-day-old in a hospital in Bacolod, Philippines.[2] At two years old, Christopher Remkes was adopted[3] by Mike and Dora Remkes who brought him to Australia.

He spent his childhood in Happy Valley, a suburb of Adelaide[2] and started getting involved in gymnastics at the age of five.[4] He has an adoptive brother and sister who were adopted from Manila. He tried playing other sports but eventually focused in gymnastics. For his primary education, Remkes attended Aberfoyle Park and later Ascot Park which maintains a specialist gymnastics program. Remkes also went to Hamilton Secondary College before moving to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in 2015.[2]

Career

edit

Remkes competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the men's vault event. He managed to win a gold for Australia, ending a 24-year Commonwealth Games drought for his adopted nation in the event since Bret Hudson won a gold in the vault event For Australia at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.[4] After his Commonwealth stint, Remkes has expressed his goal of competing in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[2] However, he tore his ACL at the 2019 World Cup competition in Doha[5] and although he was recovered enough to be on Australia's 2020 World Cup Team,[6] he was not chosen for the Olympics team, which had only one slot for Men's Artistic Gymnastics.[7]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Athlete Profile: Christopher Remkes". Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Alinea, Eddie (15 April 2018). "Chris Remkes wants to go back to PH". Manila Times. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  3. ^ Marinas, Romy (13 April 2018). "Filipino gymnast pockets Commonwealth Games gold". Manila Times. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  4. ^ a b Purdon, Fiona (9 April 2018). "Adopted from a Filipino orphanage Christopher Remkes becomes an Aussie hero with gold in the gymnastics". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Remkes, Christopher". Athlete Bios. FIG. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Gymnastics Australia Announces 2020 World Cup Team". Gymnastics New South Wales. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Biggest Australian Olympic Gymnastics team since Tokyo 1964 selected for Tokyo 2020". Gymnastics Australia. Retrieved 6 January 2022.