Jeffrey Wammes

Biography

In 2005, the 17-year-old Wammes broke into international competition. In February, at the American Cup in Uniondale, New York (part of the World Cup circuit that year), Wammes won gold on floor and vault. At the European Championships in Debrecen, he won the bronze medal for vault. At the World Championships in Melbourne, Wammes and Epke Zonderland became the first Dutch men to qualify for the all-around finals; Wammes finished fifteenth. He also qualified to the floor and vault finals, finishing fifth and eighth, respectively.

In 2006, Wammes faced a setback. In March, at the World Cup in Lyon, Wammes broke both ankles during the floor exercise. The fractures were very complicated and his career was in peril. However, his recovery went beyond expectation, so that Wammes was able to participate in October in the World Championships in Aarhus.

At the European Championships 2007 in Amsterdam did he even reach two finals. On the vault he won a bronze medal. In the all-around, he finished ninth. On the World Cup 2007 in Stuttgart, he was fifth in the high bar finals.

Since March 2010 Wammes is an ambassador for Right To Play. This is an international humanitarian organization to improve with sport and play programs the lives of children in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.

In 2012 Wammes opposed the nomination of Epke Zonderland for the Olympic Games in London by the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Union. Wammes won the case, but a fracture line in his knee ended his Olympic dream for 2012. Eventually Zonderland was delegated to the Olympics where he won on 7 August 2012 a golden medal on the horizontal bar.

Performance

Jeffrey Wammes was the all around Dutch champion four times: in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

2010

The year 2010 was a particularly good year for Wammes. During the World Cup Gymnastics in October in Rotterdam he only finished in eighth place on the vault component, but during several World Cups he won many medals.

On September 12, he won gold at the vault part in the World Cup matches in Ghent. On 20 November 2010 he won medals in three parts during the World Cup in Glasgow. He earned two bronze (on floor and vault) and won silver at the high bar. On vault he even won the World Cup. With this performance, he has secured his participation in these three components during the World Cup in 2011.

He also obtained that year in various World Cups, the following medals:

As a token of appreciation for this good performance, on December 13, 2010 he was awarded the "Fanny" for Sportsman of Amsterdam 2010.

Personal life

Wammes was born in Utrecht. He is a brother of the former gymnast Gabriella Wammes. In daily life he followed since 2009 Higher Vocational Education Sport Management and Economics at the Johan Cruyff College in Amsterdam. In the same year he moved from 's-Hertogenbosch to his current hometown. Besides gymnastics he is working on a career as dj.

In early 2009 Wammes had a four-year contract with Defense for the course "Defence Topsport Selection". Within a week after Yuri van Gelder had to leave because of cocaine use, Wammes was also dismissed. The ministry did not want to clarify why, but indicated that Wammes "was not fit for military service", Wammes self stated: "I'm a little hidden away. They said I did not do my best. Strange thing is that during the training it was never mentioned. It was quite a shock. If I hear most contracts of athletes will not be renewed, I will think for myself."

Wammes is gay. In 2011, he appeared in an edition of Linda Magazine focused on gay athletes and stated, "There was already a lot of speculation about whether or not I fell for boys or girls. To me it has nothing to do with sport or how I perform. But when I was asked to do this, I made it clear straight away how things were and that’s that."