The Paris 2024 Olympics opened everyone's eyes to the many stories of strengths, hard work, and perseverance of so many athletes. Their record-breaking feats were the star of the show, but in the midst of it all, some athletes caught our eye, too. For the men gymnasts—aside from our very own Carlos Yulo, of course(!)—we couldn't help but turn our attention to another podium-finisher: Jake Jarman.
The Filipino-British bronze medalist—who competes for Great Britain—got us all curious with his charisma, not to mention his very fun attitude during the games. Throughout the competition, there were close-up shots of the athletes preparing for their turn to showcase what they've trained for after months and years. While most athletes display intense, serious focus, Jake was out there childishly making faces, seemingly not worrying about the competition, LOL.
The Internet has captured some of Jake's funny moments during the Olympic telecast. Bringing his charm to social media, Jake unknowingly grew his fandom with memes about him being created. Admittedly, we're among those who were enamored by Jake's charms. Below, we've listed down what we found out about the swoon-worthy athlete as we lowkey (stalked) looked into his social media life.
10 Things About British Gymnast Jake Jarman We Want You To Know
1. He's a '01 liner!
Jake, who's an "energetic, creative, and bouncy" person as he would describe himself, competed in the Paris 2024 when he was just 22 years old. His birth date is on December 3, 2001—a Sagittarius!
2. He has a cute nickname.
His nickname is...*shocker* Jakey. Well, he definitely looks like a Jakey, right?
3. He is half-Filipino.
It's something that we have recently found out as well, but Jake has always been proud of his Filipino roots. Jake's mother hails from Cebu, while his father is British. Although he mainly spent his childhood in Peterborough in England, he also lived in Cebu City back when he was just three years old. They lived there for two years.
4. He has fun hobbies.
Aside from training as a gymnast, Jake has other hobbies, too—probably to help destress from his rigid preparation before tournaments. In an introductory video uploaded on the official British Gymnastics website, Jake shared what a "perfect day" for him looks like.
"Wake up at 10'o'clock, have good ol' breakfast...Spend time with friends and family and have enough time to play all the video games I like," the athlete remarked. Apparently, other than loving gymnastics, Jake also has a lot of love for video games. His other hobbies also include reading and drawing, as expected from creative Jake.
5. British gymnast Louis Smith inspired him to get better at gymnastics.
Jake looks up to the retired British gymnast, Louis Smith. ICYDK, Louis was the first British gymnast to win an individual Olympic medal during the 2008 Beijing Olympics after 100 years. Louis specialized in the pommel horse routine.
6. He fell in love with gymnastics because of the monkey bars.
For some gymnasts, their journey in the sport was sparked by their talent in playing with the monkey bars at the playground. After all, they all say to start 'em young.
"My memory is pretty hazy because I was so young, but from what my mum told me, when I was at my local park, on the monkey bars, doing my thing, one of the local coaches approached my mum and said, 'You should take your son to gymnastics'. It kind of just progressed from there. I've always had a natural love for physical activity and I've always had a place in my heart for gymnastics from then on," he once shared.
7. Jake has a gymnastics move named after him.
When Jake competed at the 2023 International Gymnastics Federation World Challenge Cup in Paris, the athlete did a wonderful execution of a routine that became worthy of being added to FIG's Code of Points or COP. The name given to the move was, "The Jarman," Jake's last name.
8. He knows how to have fun.
An athlete's training can be super stressful. There's so much pressure, especially if you have goals of participating in the Olympics—which was the case for Jake. But scrolling through Jake's social media accounts, the 22-year-old athlete knows how to make the most out of everything.
Even if he would fail during practices or if he would fall or stumble during matches, he would have a video compilation of it and well, kinda make fun of himself, LOL. Jake is one goofy guy and it shows in his feed. His videos and captions are like fresh takes on what a gymnast's life looks like. Basically, most of his days literally have so many twists and turns!
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9. Jake has a clear mindset when it comes to competitions.
Winning is not just about talent. For Jake, it's always about consistency, and to achieve consistency, hard work is a must. Jake's favorite motto is, "Consistency, along with flair, is among the important elements in winning competitions."
10. He's an Internet-famous athlete.
Given that he's young and very outgoing, Jake has always been active online. He has been uploading his training videos—even the most random ones. We have to say that all his videos are very fun to watch, especially if you're looking into gymnastics as a sport.
On TikTok, Jake has almost 150,000 followers and he has garnered 6.2 million likes already. That's how active he is there. While on Instagram, Jake shares content with more than 311,000 followers. He has some of the wittiest and candid captions too.
In his celebratory post after winning his bronze medal, he said, "Olympic bronze medalist on floor. Someone pinch me. Today has been insane. I don't really know how to put into words how I’m feeling rn. Thank you to my family and friends who have supported my journey, today wouldn’t have been possible without you. I still have one more final to go, so I'm gonna try and recover for tomorrow, and then we go one more time."
He's an IG cutie too, so go and give the boy a follow ;)
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