After stellar performances in recent years, gymnast Rhys McClenaghan is targeting gold at the Paris Olympics. The 25-year-old is preparing for the final of the Pommel Horse on Saturday, August 3.
A medal slipped from his grasp at the Tokyo Olympics but he will be aiming for redemption this weekend. Here’s everything you need to know about the Newtownards gymnast.
Starting Young at Rathgael Gymnastics
Originally from Newtownards in Co Down, Rhys took up gymnastics at age six at the Rathgael Gymnastics Club in Bangor.
His mother encouraged him to try gymnastics as it complemented other sports he was already doing. “I was always climbing up on the rooftops, the highest tree that I could possibly find and my mum and dad would have liked me to channel that energy so they did bring me to a local gymnastics club,” he said.
He is coached by Luke Carson who is considered Ireland’s most successful gymnastics coach to date. Carson started his career as a competitor and then moved into coaching.
Disappointment in Tokyo
At the Tokyo Olympics, he finished seventh in the men’s pommel horse final after his finger got caught under the handle near the start of his routine and he came off the horse.
He resumed after a word of advice from coach Luke Carson but the error still cost him a much-wanted medal.
McClenaghan had been among the favourites to take home a medal having claimed bronze at the 2019 World Championships.
He is the only Irish gymnast ever to have reached the finals of the Olympics.
The road to Paris
He is a three-time European champion and a Commonwealth Games champion on the pommel horse. McClenaghan is the first Irish gymnast to compete in a European final and also the first to win a European medal.
In 2019, he became the first Irish gymnast to qualify to a world championships final and to also win a medal, taking bronze on pommel horse
He is a double world champion on the pommel horse, having won gold in 2022 and 2023, the first Irish artistic gymnast ever to win world championship gold.
