TALK about Tokyo was left to everyone else as Rhys McClenaghan stylishly sealed his spot in a second Olympic pommel horse final – earning a shot at ultimate redemption next Saturday night.
The Newtownards gymnast posted the joint-highest score of the day with 15.200 to safely advance on Saturday, joining USA’s Stephen Nedoroscik as the top qualifier, ahead of defending champion Max Whitlock, who scored 15.166.
And McClenaghan did it with the minimum of fuss, returning to the Bercy Arena – a venue he knows well from previous World Cups – to wow the French crowd once more. A fist pump followed dismount, but for all the wide smiles the 25-year-old knows the job is nowhere near done.
Three years on from his Tokyo nightmare, when McClenaghan’s medal hopes were extinguished following a slip of the finger 10 seconds into his final routine, it was inevitable all eyes would be on him.
So, did the ghosts of the Ariake centre crop up at any stage in the days or hours before?
“Emm, no,” he said, “I’ve done a lot of competitions that you guys didn’t even watch in between that, so that’s at the back of my mind.
“It was an experience that was needed obviously, because I’m standing here in front of you a two-time world champion.
“That just kind of shows how I can bounce back from disappointments. Listen, I’m just enjoying being here, two-time Olympian, two-time Olympic finalist. I’m very happy… I feel like I’m at the top of the mountain now and I’m just enjoying the view.”
That’s because the Rhys McClenaghan of then is not the Rhys McClenaghan of now.
Those back-to-back world titles, won in Liverpool in 2022 and Antwerp last October, added to consecutive European crowns in the past two years, prove that point, rendering the need for any form of salesman speak redundant.
The repetition of those achievements, vocalised twice during his mixed zone interview, further cements the progress made. Saturday’s routine will be different, an “upgrade” on what he and coach Luke Carson saw as a “solid” first showing.
“That was the word Luke was using when I came off - that was solid, calm. That’s kind of what you want to be like in that reappearance in the Olympic Games.
“That’s what it did feel like. Of course I want to keep pushing more and more to that perfection that isn’t attainable really, but we’ll try.”
That pursuit of perfection opens the door to constant personal reflection, with McClenaghan measuring himself against the best when weighing up the judges’ scores.
“Well there’s 1.1 deductions that the judges found and the perfect 10 is not attainable any more in gymnastics. The judges will always find something but I want to have them guessing as much as possible.
“Does anybody know what Zou Jingyuan scored today on parallel bars? No? I heard he scored 16.2 overall and his execution would have been 9.4 or something like that. If he can do it on parallel bars, I certainly want to be pushing for that on pommel.”
As for what it will take to win, score-wise, in the final, McClenaghan wasn’t in the mood to whip out his crystal ball.
“I don’t know and I don’t care, as I have my job to do and I am hopefully going to do it…”
Instead, he was happy to be heading back to the athletes’ village with room for improvement, and seven more days to hone what he hopes can be a winning routine inside his favourite arena.
“It felt so familiar out there, that pressure I had on my shoulders, because I do it every day in training.
“That takes a bit of pressure off the competition day, as I need to improve for tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that.
“Every single day I go into training I am treating it like a competition and it’s draining, as every day I am nervous, I am putting pressure on myself to perform a routine even though it’s just in front of my coach in an empty gym.
“It makes moments like this easier as I’m familiar with it.”
