'Extraordinary' Newtownards' Rhys McClenaghan wins Olympic Games gold in Paris as Northern Ireland medal tally hits super six
Newtownards’ Rhys McClenaghan has won Olympic Games gold in Paris thanks to a memorable men’s pommel horse final display.
With Daniel Wiffen, Jack McMillan and Hannah Scott having already picked up top prizes in Paris over the past week – to add to our country’s list of past champions in Lady Mary Peters (1972), Stephen Martin (1988) and Jimmy Kirkwood (1988) – now it is the turn of McClenaghan to join the elite roll of honour.
He stepped into the spotlight on Saturday afternoon representing Team Ireland in the artistic gymnastics showcase as a favourite for glory given his commanding heats success last weekend plus track record as a two-time World champion, three-time European winner and Commonwealth Games victor.
And he managed to complete the job at the Bercy Arena with a superb display to take his place in the history books and add to Northern Ireland’s stunning medal haul this summer – with a performance described as ‘extraordinary’ by one commentator and score of 15.533.
McClenaghan’s triumph marks a seventh gold medal in Northern Ireland summer Olympic Games history, fourth of the week and sixth Paris prize overall following Wiffen (Team Ireland), McMillan (Team GB), Scott (Team GB), Rebecca Shorten (Team GB, silver) and Philip Doyle (Team Ireland, bronze).
Late afternoon on Saturday in Paris the 25-year-old managed to complete that childhood Olympic Games goal.
“It feels like a dream, it’s a dream well-earned and I just can’t believe it’s happened,” he said. “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.”