{"id":561146,"date":"2026-07-27T02:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T02:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/561146\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T02:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T02:08:08","slug":"do-it-for-gabe-reuben-ward-wins-gymnastic-gold-as-langton-returns-after-nasty-fall-commonwealth-games-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/561146\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Do It For Gabe\u2019: Reuben Ward wins gymnastic gold as Langton returns after nasty fall | Commonwealth Games 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surely the most heartwarming sight at these Commonwealth Games<\/a> came shortly before lunchtime on Sunday, when a young English gymnast hobbled to his seat in the Glasgow \u00adInternational Arena.<\/p>\n

Thirty-six hours earlier, Gabriel Langton had landed on his neck<\/a> after a horror fall off the high bars, leaving many of his fellow gymnasts in tears. Now, despite spending 24 hours in hospital and sporting a fair few bruises, he was back at the scene \u2013 and determined to make himself\u00a0heard.<\/p>\n

He shouted for his English teammates Luke Whitehouse and Adam Tobin, who finished seventh and fifth. And when it became clear they were not going to win, he urged on his British teammate Reuben Ward, competing for Scotland, to a brilliant individual all-around gold medal.<\/p>\n

Ward had been one of those in tears on Friday night and after his win he remembered what the team\u2019s physiotherapists had told him when it \u00adhappened: \u201cDo it for Gabe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to junior Europeans in 2022 with Gabe,\u201d Ward said. \u201cAnd I was there yesterday when he came back from the hospital and went to the Leonardo hotel, where Team England is staying. I was there. I saw him. I clapped him in, gave him a hug. I\u2019m just so glad he\u2019s all right.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, the other day in the team final when he was on the floor, that was very scary. When we went to junior Europeans, he was 15, and he was just a kid then, and now he\u2019s a man. And then he was on the floor. The physio came over, said: \u2018Do it for Gabe.\u2019 I think about three of us on Team Scotland cried, including me.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, this was a day when gymnastics offered another reminder of the perils of this wonderful sport, with Singapore\u2019s Jovi Loh being taken away on a stretcher with what looked like serious knee injury.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old was finishing off his routine on the bars but he did not stick his double front-half dismount and went down clutching a knee and grimacing in pain.<\/p>\n

Ward\u2019s words were echoed by Tobin, who said he had also heard Langton shouting for him. \u201cI didn\u2019t actually see him, but I heard him,\u201d he added. \u201cI know what his voice sounds like. It\u2019s great, and I think seeing him walk back into the hotel last night, fit and healthy, was great.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was shouting: \u2018Let\u2019s go!\u2019 and: \u2018Keep it clean.\u2019 And it\u2019s so great. In the span of two days, he\u2019s gone through this incredibly scary, traumatic thing,\u00a0and he\u2019s here and he\u2019s supporting me, Team England and Team Scotland as well. So I\u2019m just so happy he\u2019s doing great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tobin also praised England\u2019s coaches for keeping everyone calm amid the chaos. \u201cI mean we were all completely shocked, and the first thing that jumped into our head was: \u2018Is he OK?\u2019 The coaches did a really good job of hiding us up, keeping us in a bubble, and just trying to keep our head scooted on because we still have a job to do. And then it became more than a medal. We were doing it for Gabe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit of a rollercoaster on the first day of competition. We walked away with a team medal, which I\u2019m extremely happy about. And then from that point, I\u2019ve had to calm myself down and build myself back up going into this competition today, so it\u2019s been a bit of a new experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reuben Ward performs on the high bar. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Whitehouse, who had been the favourite for gold, put on a brave face after finishing seventh. Three falls proved costly, including one doing a triple backflip on the floor, which is his signature move.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall I\u2019m pretty disappointed,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t start the competition the way I wanted, falling on the first three apparatus and the triple back \u2013 that\u2019s pretty uncharacteristic for me. Then I just made a silly mistake on the pommel with a dismount.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Whitehouse was also able to put his disappointment into perspective. \u201cIt\u2019s such a relief to know that Gabe\u2019s OK and there\u2019s no serious injuries, just bruising,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to welcome him back to the hotel yesterday and present his medal to him, I couldn\u2019t be prouder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about his medal-winning performance on Friday after \u00adLangton\u2019s fall, Whitehouse added: \u201cI don\u2019t know how I did it. It was a pretty horrific fall. I think you\u2019ve just got to put that aside and just try not to think about it really.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surely the most heartwarming sight at these Commonwealth Games came shortly before lunchtime on Sunday, when a young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-561146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}