Gymnast Jack Neill hoping to compete at Rio Olympics after securing Cambridge place

Gymnast Jack now has his sights set on securing a place on the Ireland gymnastics team at the 2016 Olympics after securing a place at Cambridge.

The 18-year-old secured a place to study engineering after getting an A* in maths, A* in further maths and an A in physics but has decided to defer a year in a bid to compete in Rio next summer.

Jack, the current British U18 pommel horse champion, a title previously won by Olympic silver medallist Louis Smith, said: "My results were absolutely amazing. I was very nervous leading up to today, as I'm sure most of my friends were, so it was good to finally be able to collect my results.

"The wait I had for a confirmation of my place didn't help but we got there in the end and I'm really looking forward to studying at Christ College because it is the best place to study engineering and this is the field I'd love to work in."

Jack, who began training at Tolworth Gymnastics Club at the age of five and has already competed at the 2012 European Championships and 2013 European Youth Olympics, is now turning his attentions to the World Championships in Glasgow later this year.

"With the Olympics taking place next summer, I decided I would defer going to Cambridge until 2016 so I can spend a whole year doing gymnastics and hopefully get some work experience," he continued. "There are lots of competitions between now and the Olympics and all my focus is now on making sure I make the Ireland team.

"The next year is going to be huge for me - especially at the end of year with the World Championships and the trials to get into the Ireland team sometime in the New Year. I certainly won't be spending the next year relaxing!"

As for his chosen subject, he added: "I'm very passionate about maths and physics so engineering seemed to be the perfect fit."

Glyn’s head of sixth form Joe Gale has watched Jack throughout his school career, and says his success is thoroughly deserved – and appreciated by his classmates. “Jack has a great work ethic,” he explained. “I was his biology teacher for two years and saw no sign of the huge amounts of work he was putting in to his gymnastics, as his work was always done on time and to a high standard."

It was not just the teachers who were unaware of quite how much work he was doing. “Jack’s very humble and many of the other students were unaware of his success until we persuaded him to let us show one of his performance clips in assembly,” Mr Gale explained. “They revelled in the brilliance of one of their own year group and what he could do, and gave him a standing ovation at the end. The whole school is incredibly proud of him and what he’s achieved, and we can’t wait to see more.”

Jack was part of a Year 13 cohort that secured an overall pass rate of 99.7 per cent, with 82 per cent of grades at A* to C and 53 per cent at A* to B.

In terms of attainment, Glyn’s top performers were:
Luca Michael (3 A* grades)
Jack Neill (3 A* grades and 1 A grade)
Ashiq Abdul Khader (3 A* grades and 1 A grade)
Alexander Holt (3 A* grades and 1 A grade)
Matthew Hay (3 A* grades and 1 B grade)
Samuel Jackson (2 A* grades and 2 A grades)
Fahim Ahmed (2 A* grades,1 A grade and 1 B grade)
Lydia Hallam (2 A* grades and 1 A grade)
Sean Kealy (2 A* grades and 1 A grade)
Matthew Harvey-Wright (2 A* grades and 2 D grades)
Elizabeth Atherton (1 A* grade and 3 A grades)
Joseph Allison (1 A* grade and 3 A grades)
Hansel Rodrigues (1 A* grade and 3 A grades)
Francesca Smith (1 A* grade and 2 A grades)