The Sam Oldham Podcast

In 2022 at the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, Clay Stephens finished 11th in the all around final, 4th with the Australian men's gymnastics team snd qualified for two individual apparatus finals. Clay has battled against insurmountable adversity throughout his career which has resulted in him undergoing six surgeries. As a child he was diagnosed with Poland syndrome which for him means he was born with only one pectoral muscle. Early in his adult life Clay was diagnosed with bowel cancer which was removed following multiple incidents of server stomach pain. After embarking on his senior international career for Australia in men's artistic gymnastics in 2017 he suffered the first of three knee injuries that took him out of the sport for significant periods of time. During this time Clay was awakened a full sports scholarship at the University of Illinois and became the team captain of the men's college gymnastics team. All together he underwent five separate knee surgeries to reconstruct his ligaments on both legs but incredibly Clay was able to find the mental strength to return to elite competition. Most recently he travelled to Nepal to build a new classroom and spend time trekking in the Himalayas. And this is his story. 

In 2002 at the Commonwealth games held in Manchester. Steve Frew won a historic gold medal in the sport of artistic gymnastics on the still rings. Throughout his professional career Steve represented Scotland at five Commonwealth Games and Great Britain at two World gymnastics championships. In the early days of his senior gymnastics career Steve worked as a full time postman in order to pursue his dreams of becoming an Olympian. Since retiring from the sport he has dedicated his time to inspiring the next generation delivering motivational talks and mentoring children in schools up and down the country. During the London 2012 Olympic Games in London Steve was the arena commentator for the sport of gymnastics at the North Greenwich arena. And this is his story. 

At the 2025 World artistic gymnastics championships in Indonesia, Joe Fraser won the horizontal bar bronze medal and became the first British man in history to stand upon the podium. Joe was part of the British team that finished 4th in the men's Olympic team final and individually he finished 5th all around in France twelve months ago. Throughout his career he has won a total of twelve major championships medals and is the only British man to have won an all round major championships title to date. Alongside training full time as a professional athlete Joe has recently opened the Joe Fraser gymnastics club in Lichfield, building upon his legacy. Since we first sat down with Joe back in August 2023, he's had multiple surgeries, competed at a second Olympic Games and successfully completed an incredible comeback which culminated in him winning the World bronze medal in October. And this is his story. 

In November 2025, the third edition of the Junior World gymnastics championships took place in the Philippines. I'm going to be discussing my big takeaways from the men's team event in which the Chinese men came out on top ahead of team Japan, who were very closely followed by the three man US squad. The all around crown was won by the Russian gymnast Arsenii Dukhno who was competing as a neutral athlete. He edged out the Asian Games champion from Japan Nao Ojima with Yang Lanbin the top Chinese athlete finishing in third to complete the men's podium. China took the gold medals on the floor exercise and pommel horse with Yang Lanbin's beautiful routine on the former of the two apparatus and Zheng Ao winning gold the pommel horse. Dante Reive became the Junior world still rings champion and the all around champion Arsenii Dukhno got his individual title on vault performing a near perfect Yuchenko triple twist. Following in footsteps of his senior training partner Angel Bajaras, Colombian superstar Camilo Vera took two gold medals to round out the championships. On the parallel bars he shared the title with Nao Ojima and then on the horizontal bar he performed a routine that would have been competitive just one month earlier at the senior World gymnastics championships. Overall I was extremely impressed with the level of competition at these junior championships and expect many of these athletes to play key roles for their respective nations throughout this olympic cycle and beyond. Beyond the gold-medal winners, standout performances were delivered by Simone Seperanza, Eldrew Yulo, Danila Leykin, Sol Scott, and Nael Sakouhi. And this is my story. 

At the 2025 World gymnastics championships, Brody Malone won his second World title for the US men's gymnastics team on the horizontal bar. Brody was a key member of the five man US team that took the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games twelve months ago. In 2023 he sustained an extremely serious knee injury whilst performing on the high bar at an international event in Germany, which required multiple surgeries and a lengthy rehabilitation process. Remarkably Brody was able to make a full recovery to earn his place on his second Olympic team and he now stands alongside Kurt Thomas and Paulo Hamm as the only American male gymnasts to win two world titles in the sport. And this is his story.