Olympic gymnast Kristian Thomas graduates with first class honours

Kristian, who now trains a new generation at a club in Telford, finished his three-year bachelor of science in strength and conditioning at the University of Wolverhampton.

He also won a special Cranlea Dissertation Prize for the best dissertation in the Department of Sport.

Kristian says he plans on continuing in gymnastics as a sport practitioner.

He said: “It feels pretty good actually. It’s a nice feeling to go there and connect with the people you’ve spent three years with.

"The course was very similar to sports science and hopefully it gives me an opportunity to go into the sport as a practitioner.

"Elite sport is where I would like to end up – I was out of it but it’s nice to keep in touch with something I’m very passionate about.”

The 30-year-old, who claimed bronze at the 2012 Olympics in the men’s artistic team and gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, added: “The staff were great, really supportive, encouraging and helpful.

"They definitely helped and showed their expertise – I’m very grateful for their help.”

Kristian is now a coach at Telford’s Park Wrekin club. He was born in Wolverhampton and now lives near Cannock. He used to train in the West Midlands and retired from elite sport in 2017.