Bercy Arena, Paris: Irish sporting history made as Rhys McClenaghan becomes Ireland's first gymnastics Olympic Champion hitting a score of 15.533 on pommel-horse in Paris.
Rhys was 4th up out of eight gymnasts in the pommel-horse final where he had a difficulty score of 6.600 and an execution score of 8.933 giving him a total of 15.533.
Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov, took silver with a huge score of 15:433 while USA's Stephen Nedoroscik finished in bronze position with a score of 15.300.
Speaking at the Bercy Arena McClenaghan said:
“It feels like a dream, it’s a dream well-earned and I just can’t believe it’s happened! It always felt like it was going to happen but I wasn’t sure when.
“Listen everybody at home see this as an example of find a dream that you love, chase it and enjoy that journey because I can tell you if I fell off that Pommel today I still would have loved this journey, every single second of it but I didn’t and today I’m walking away with an Olympic gold medal!”
“After the routine I was happy – I wasn’t thinking about medals. When the score came up I was proud of that score because it was mine and I wasn’t thinking of the podium at all I was just thinking I’ve done my job and I feel like that’s where the main emotions came from today.”
I knew that this would also be the toughest Pommel Horse final of all time, and it was so to come out on top is incredible.”
Performance & Technical Director Sally Johnson said: “This entire journey has been the most enjoyable experience of hard work and perseverance, with many highs and lows to chieve the inevitable! Such a fantastic team of coach and athlete to come to this point and showcase the prime example of performance to achieve their dreams! The future will continue to be bright for Luke and Rhys. I am so proud of them! A massive congratulations to everyone involved, family, friends, Sport Ireland, the OFI and especially Julianne Ryan, Niall Ward, Jessie Barr, Denis Donoghue and Origin Gymnastics Club. Thank you!
Commenting on the performance CEO of Gymnastics Ireland Mr. Ciaran Gallagher said:
“Ireland has an Olympic Champion in gymnastics! Emotional is an understatement. I can't describe how proud I am of Rhys and Luke - tears were flowing in the stands as we watched on with our fantastic partners in Sport Ireland and the OFI. Rhys and Luke have delivered in the ultimate competitive arena in the world - simply put congratulations and thankyou! Congratulations to our Performance & Technical Director Sally Johnson, Head of Performance Services Julianne Ryan our judge Denis Donoghue, our wider GI team and the RTÉ broadcast team! What a day for our sport!
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