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Olympic superstar Kristian proves he's first class

18/09/2019

Olympic superstar Kristian Thomas has added a First Class degree from the University of Wolverhampton to his long list of accolades.

Gymnastics champion Kristian, who won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, has completed a BSc (Hons) Strength and Conditioning degree.

Kristian, who is from Wolverhampton, completed the three year course at the University's Institute of Human Sciences at the Walsall Campus.

The 30-year-old has benefitted from the University's facilities in the British Judo Centre of Excellence at Walsall, working with the Great British Judo team and using the strength and conditioning facilities.

Kristian graduated with First Class honours at a ceremony on Wednesday, 18 September 2019.

The captain of Great Britain's men's gymnastics team at Rio 2016 said:  "It's a very proud moment after three years of hard work to be in the Grand Theatre with my cohort and my peers and the people who have helped me including the academic staff. I was out of education for quite a few years so to come back into it was a little bit daunting but they made that process so seamless. I'm very proud to come to the end of the three years and to come away with a first class honours as well.

"The University of Wolverhampton has got so many different opportunities that you can plug into and really develop your own skills and different skillsets and that is quite rare and unique really.

"Elite sport is what I know and what I love so I would like to end up back in elite sport. I'm taking those next steps to enable that really. I'm doing various bits of work for the British Olympic Association, British Gymnastics and UK Sport so I'm definitely working my way back into that elite sport environment."

Kristian joined more thousands of University of Wolverhampton students who are graduating at the city's Grand Theatre this September.

For more information about studying at the University, visit: www.wlv.ac.uk/sport or visit the next Open Day on Saturday, 12 October 2019: www.wlv.ac.uk/opendays

Further information

For more information please contact the Media Relations Office on 01902 32 2736 or 01902 518647.

Date Issued: Wednesday, 18 September 2019

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