IN A CITY which has been known to behead kings, Rhys McClenaghan is happy to stick with his existing nickname as The Prince of Pommel.
But there was no doubt that Newtownards man was master of all he surveyed in the Bercy Arena.
Mainly, he was just gazing at the gold medal hanging around his neck.
He said: “I love Paris so much, it feels like it was just meant to be, this day.
“I love Paris, I love seeing that Eiffel Tower, it never gets boring, now I’ve got a piece of it hanging around my neck, attached to an Olympic gold medal. That’s absurd to me.”
Three years ago, McClenaghan’s finger got caught in one of the bars on the pommel horse, ending his medal hopes as he finished seventh.
Straight away, the then 22-year-old articulated his ambition to bounce back by taking gold in Paris. He realised that in style.
He said: “All athletes have their own story but of course I obviously pay close attention to my own story.
“But I’m trying to write that in the happiest fashion I can possibly make it and that isn’t medal-dependant.
“That is enjoying the journey, enjoying going to competitions around the world, enjoying going training every day, having gymnastics as my job never gets old, even just saying that, because that in itself is a life-long dream.
“That’s something I dreamed of when I was in school, literally day-dreaming when I was in class about gymnastics routines.
“The fact that is what I do, that I’m a professional gymnast, is already a win.
“But then of course the medals are the driving force, that’s the pinnacle of our sport, we’re always working towards that.
“I made it very apparent even after Tokyo that I wanted to enjoy that journey to the top of that mountain.”
Fourth up in the eight-man final, he posted a score of 15.333. He insisted that he did not know straight away that he had done enough to win gold but he had.
He knocked Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov off top spot with Stephen Nedoroscik of the USA the only one of the subsequent competitors to get a score above 15 with his 15.200 enough for bronze.
McClenaghan said: “I didn’t know that I’d won as soon as I landed. But I knew that I had done my job.
“I’d done the most difficult routine I could do on this day and that’s where the tears and the emotions came from really.
“Either of these guys can beat that score but what an amazing final to be a part of. This was the best pommel horse final that has ever happened in my eyes, ever, in the history of men’s gymnastics.
“To be a part of that is incredible and any one of those eight finalists could have taken gold today.”
McClenaghan did so by attempting and executing his most difficult routine yet.
RHYS’ ROUTINE
He said: “It shows I’ve got balls anyway. There’s a tiniest little hesitation during that routine where you can either go for the difficult skill towards the end of the routine or you don’t.
“That routine I did in qualifications that would’ve been a 15.2 I would’ve scored.
“So, I had to suck it up, get it done, put that new skill in and it worked out because I came away with a personal best score. I can’t ask for more than that.
“But there’s a couple of height circles that I would have liked to stretch out a bit more. I’m glad I glued those legs together towards the end of the routine.
“That was always a goal and that’s something that I’ve been susceptible to in the past – it’s like a nervous thing, if you ever see a pommel horse worker split their legs, it’s like they’re nervous as if they felt something’s off a little bit.
“But I want to feel even if something is off that I can glue those legs together and I feel like I done that today.
“And then of course just to have the balls to do that added skill, not backing out of it. I could have just played it safe, done the qualification routine like normal.
“But instead we went out there and did the highest difficulty I had ever put out in an international competition. I risked it all and came away with the biscuit.”
It represent the realisation of a 10-year plan with Luke Carson who, he said, turned him from a mediocre gymnast.
He said: “Luke clearly saw a path. It’s not often I’ve heard him say ‘I think this kid can be a world champion’, but he said it for me.
“So he clearly saw a path that I could take, we took that path, I followed Luke on every programme he done, questioned him very little, although of course it’s healthy to question your coach every now and then.
“I owe Luke a lot, this is our medal and I’m proud it’s that way.”
But he might hang onto this medal himself having given one of his World Championships golds to Carson for his Origin Gymnastics gym to inspire the next generation.
And he knows from personal experience how a Games can do that for a youngster.
INSPIRATION
McClenaghan said: “I just saw Louis Smith there in the media zone and one of my favourite Olympic moments, maybe my favourite, was when he performed his routine at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“I went to and watched the Opening Ceremony and saw posters of Lewis Smith everywhere.
“It seemed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and it felt like this was my Louis Smith London 2012 moment coming in here.
“I’m the double world champion coming into this, Ireland knew this could be our first ever Olympic gymnastics medal and I delivered under that pressure.
“That was the emotion that you were seeing there that I had done my job regardless of that pressure I was under.
“I talked to him in the media zone. It’s mad seeing him standing right there in my Olympic moment, when his Olympic moment was my inspiration for my entire career.
“That right there is a working example of that inspiration working and that trickledown effect.
“There might be a kid in the crowd there that is saying, ‘Jesus that was amazing.’ That was so good, I want to do that.’
“That might stick in their brain — into whatever sport they do, whatever job they do, career path they do. And that might inspire them to be the best they can possibly be.
“That shows the power of these Olympic Games.
“I could lock my door and stay away, not talk to anybody for the next year or two, but I’m not going to do that.
“I’m going to be out, I’m going to be inspiring hopefully, and I want as many kids as possible to touch this medal and see that it’s a reality as much as possible.”