The MyInfo website, designed solely for certified media and team officials assisting athletes, is operational in Paris. The site includes the biographies of gymnasts competing in the men’s pommel final this Saturday, one of whom is Rhys McClenaghan. His given ambition fits neatly into one succinct statement – securing a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
It is an aspiration reminiscent of Tokyo 2020, where a slip in hand placement and fall left McClenaghan in seventh place. Departing Tokyo, he was humbled but also resilient and resolute. The Olympic Games, ever-tricky, had struck once more.
Though the wait was not the standard four years due to Covid, but rather a span of three, McClenaghan has forged ahead fearlessly. He nabbed the world champ title in Liverpool in 2022 and defended it successfully in Antwerp the following year. Though McClenaghan didn’t secure an Olympic medal in Tokyo, he enters Paris as a double World Champion and the one to overcome.
Having classified confidently last week for the eight-man final, McClenaghan is currently ranked first with a score of 15.200. He appears keenly conscious of his standing in the gymnastic world and is not shy about publicly acknowledging his determination to fulfil his Tokyo-fuelled ambition.
Enjoying the view from the summit, as McClenaghan, aged 25, puts it, following his qualification for the finals, he also recognizes there’s room for improvement. Despite affirming that his performance was solid, what his coach Luke Carson described as “calm”, McClenaghan acknowledges his aspiration to strive incessantly towards the elusive perfection. It’s a pursuit he is committed to despite the inherent challenges.
Despite McClenaghan’s extraordinary first place qualification amidst 65 competitors, he hadn’t solidified his final routine with Carson. The pommel in gymnastics shares similarities to a women’s balance beam due to the uncertainty that the routine will be completed, an unfortunate reality McClenaghan intimately experienced three years ago when he couldn’t finish a routine within its initial 10 seconds. The initial completion is the initial step towards success.
Essentially, it’s a test of mental strength and physical dexterity in which muscle recall is paramount. It’s widely accepted in the sport that if a gymnast attempts to memorise the sequence of movements, he will fail before even mounting the pommel; the sequence must become second nature.
The routine also demands stamina, rhythm, and precision to ensure the gymnast does not make contact with the apparatus as their legs swing sideways for approximately 45 seconds. Scoring hinges on execution and difficulty, with the gymnast determining how much they want to increase the difficulty component of the routine prior to competing.
It’s a calculated risk that McClenaghan will need to balance with his team and align with his confidence levels. Not all athletes can execute a routine with a degree of difficulty worthy of an Olympic gold medal, but this is well within McClenaghan’s capabilities. His final performance at the Bercy Arena will differ from the one that qualified him.
McClenaghan confirmed his plans for a more challenging final routine last week, expressing hope to achieve an even higher score. He describes the pressure as a familiar feeling due to his daily training regimen. The score needed to secure a win remains unknown to him, but he remains undeterred, focused primarily on his performance.
However, an unobstructed path to victory shouldn’t be presumed. McClenaghan’s well-known competitor, Britain’s Max Whitlock, a three-time Olympic champion who became the first man to successfully defend a pommel horse gold medal in over 40 years, won the title in Tokyo. Whitlock has also secured an Olympic title in floor routine in addition to his two pommel victories.
Having initially planned to wrap up his career post-Tokyo, he decided to extend his journey to a final round at the Paris Games, where he notably asserted his presence by being one of the five athletes to accumulate more than 15 points. Whitlock’s strategy and understanding of the game, as well as his peers, including Japan’s Takaaki Sugino (15.033), Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine (15.033), Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov (15.000), Woong Hur from Korea (14.900), and Netherlands’ Loran de Munck (14.760), is something McClenaghan is well versed with.
His position in the game is aligned with his long-standing aspiration, tracing back to 12 years ago when he visited London as an enthusiastic teenager, to witness the pommel event. In conversation with the BBC, he expressed his deep admiration for Louis Smith, the British silver medallist, and his commendable performance despite intense pressures from the local audience.
“I observed the immense pressure he was under, and yet he managed to perform flawlessly in front of the judges, similar to his practice sessions,” he shared with Nigel Ringland. “That instance left an indelible mark on me, fuelling my inspiration till now. My career has been dotted with moments that bear a dreamlike quality, like the idea of competing against Louis.”
Setting fantasy aside, Saturday night will be a reality check, being solely McClenaghan’s responsibility to meet the expectations he has set for himself. Even though he is already a recipient of two world champion titles and three European champion accolades, and is considered among the best in the field, McClenaghan’s quest for perfection doesn’t cease. He will step into Bercy Arena, with perfection as his target.