Gymnastics star, Dominick Cunningham believes the perception of male gymnasts is changing
World and European champion opens up about the difficulty he faced in school telling people he did gymnastics. However, he states that the stereotype society has for male gymnasts is changing.
Great Britain’s artistic gymnast Dominick Cunningham has revealed “it was hard” telling people he did gymnastics in school, due to the perception some individuals have on male gymnasts. He said it was known as a “girls sport” and “if you did gymnastics you were gay.” But now he is older, he has seen the change in the way people think. “People want that gymnast body” — the hard training he does rewards him with the physique he has. Cunningham revealed how brutal it is on social media, stating he’s been “covered in blood, has fallen unconscious and cried many times.”
“People like myself and my friends, we show that we are quite strong, stronger than some of those body builders that you see. I think the perspective is different, people have changed now. They know that gymnastics is a cool sport and is really good for you.” Even though gymnastics was a men-only sport when it was first practiced in 1896, studies show that only 25% of British Gymnastics club members today are male.
Cunningham started gymnastics at five years old, due to being an energetic child. Since then he’s not had any time off in gymnastics, therefore the lockdown due to Covid-19, gave him the time he needed to relax his body. He describes the comeback as “mentally challenging”, although physically it wasn’t as bad as he thought; he took each day as it came.
The champion said he has a “positive life” now due to being “on the right path” because of gymnastics. He refuses to live a bad life like how he did when he was younger, and is determined to continue making his family proud. He describes his past, consisting of fighting and drugs, is a part in his life he doesn’t want to go back to due to “having so much to lose now”.
Cunningham achieved a great deal in 2018: he was named ‘Outstanding Athlete of the Year’ by British Gymnastics, he won a team gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and bronze on the vault, became floor champion at the European Championships and became vault champion at the British Championships. His next goal is the Tokyo Olympics 2021.
After his career, he wants to go down the stuntman path so he can continue doing the difficult and impressive skills that he has learnt in Gymnastics. “Gymnastics being such a super-human sport; being able to do cool things with my body, is what I want to continue in life.”
