Groundbreaking performance from Daniel Keatings makes British history

27.04.2010

Opus Energy, would like to congratulate Daniel Keatings after an outstanding performance at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships made him the first British man to take gold at a major gymnastics event.  

Keatings scored 15.600 beating his Huntingdon team mate, Louis Smith who claimed the silver after a minor mistake when his legs inadvertently came apart, scoring 15.375. Daniel said, “It was one and two which was an amazing achievement. Louis was a little bit gutted not getting the gold medal but he did get the silver in the end so it's awesome."

The 20 year old professional gymnast from Northamptonshire, was part of the five-man GB team who accumulated a fantastic result of one gold, two silver and a bronze in front of a home crowd at the National Indoor Arena (NIA), Birmingham.

Opus Energy held a competition in the run up the European Championships. The competition gave local young gymnasts the chance to win tickets to the event and a training session with Daniel at their gymnastics club. The lucky winner, 9 year old Zoe Parker from Kettering Gymnastics Club, attended the championships on Sunday and said,

“I had a really good day. It was so exciting to see Daniel compete and even better to see him win a gold medal and now I can’t wait to meet him in a few weeks at the training session.”

Due to the air traffic chaos, Russia were unable to compete in the Championships, but Keatings played down their no show, commenting, “They would've been a threat in the team event but we performed really well yesterday and, even if they had beaten us, we'd have still been on the podium.”

The performance was groundbreaking for Britain. Paul Hall, Daniel and Louis’s coach watched on with delight as the final results unfolded. He said: "I wasn't playing peacemaker, I was just happy to be with them. I felt very proud. It was a great result."

Charlie Crossley Cooke, MD of Opus Energy commented:

“Opus Energy are delighted that Daniel has reached another milestone in his career and we are proud to be associated with an athlete who is fulfilling such great promise leading up to the London 2010 Olympic Games.”

To find out the latest news about Daniel and to follow his blog visit Opus Energy Challenge.

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