Nile Wilson Retires

By Kirtsy Norfolk 

​Nile Wilson, the 25-year-old record breaking gymnast announced his retirement in January after a long battle with injury. In 2016, Wilson became the first British male gymnast to win an Olympic medal on the horizontal bar, he took home a bronze medal from Rio. His youth career was also well decorated, Wilson became the first British gymnast to win five gold medals at the European Junior Gymnastics Championship in 2014. In his statement, Nile explained “I was a young boy with a dream. With a lot of work and belief, I'm proof you can achieve anything you want in life. Unfortunately, my body just couldn’t keep up and that’s OK.” However, Nile Wilson’s career was plagued with injury, he sustained an ankle injury after 2016 and only just made it to the 2017 World Championships fit, where he came sixth in the all-around final. Despite the setback he was again successful in 2018, winning gold in the all-around, horizontal bar and team events, as well as silver in the rings and parallel bars at the Commonwealth Games. His most damning injury came in 2019, he was required to have corrective surgery on a bulging disc in his neck. Wilson used his growing YouTube Channel to document the injury and his recovery whilst simultaneously creating light-hearted, exciting content. Since then, his channel has amassed 1.43 million subscribers, he has also used the platform to speak openly about his mental health struggles. Wilson’s neck injury was debilitating, and he told BBC Sport he was in "excruciating pain". The postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games due to the Coronavirus pandemic further added to the pain of the injury, with gyms being closed Wilson knew he would not be able to fully recover from this injury, "It's a special memory of a special moment but I want a healthy life. It's not a wrist injury, I could've ended up in a wheelchair." The impacts mentally of his constant setbacks from the sport he loves were documented in a documentary named ‘The Silent Battle: Mental Health and Addiction in Pro Sport’, which was released on his YouTube channel in May 2020. In the documentary he spoke candidly about his relationship with alcohol which then had a knock-on impact on his gymnastics. However, since then Wilson has recovered and ventured into new avenues; in March he announced he planned opening of a new gym named ‘Nile Wilson Gymnastics Leeds’ in his hometown Leeds. This new location will be the second opening after Rotherham in 2019. Although his presence and talent will be greatly missed in upcoming competitions, Nile Wilson has proved the extent of his love for gymnastics, and he will continue to contribute to the sport for years to come