Gymnastics star Rhys McClenaghan has described his gold medal success at the Paris Olympics as his “redemption story”.
The Co Down gymnast (25) clinched gold for Ireland with his routine in the pommel horse final at the Bercy Arena on Saturday.
It came three years after he fell from the apparatus, when he was favoured to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
McClenaghan, who has already won world, European and Commonwealth titles, described his Olympic medal as his “favourite one so far”.
He told Sky News that he slept last night with the medal on his bedside table.
He said: “It’s so heavy and so sharp I was scared I was going to wake up with injuries.
“It stayed on my bedside table and I was happy to wake up and see it.”
He added: “You’ve just seen the redemption story of Rhys McClenaghan there.
“The upset in Tokyo, straight after that Olympic Games final where I fell, I said I am going to turn this disappointment into motivation and come back better, stronger than ever and that is exactly what I done.
“I am a two-time world champion, now an Olympic champion and that is the redemption I wanted.”
McClenaghan was emotional following his success on Saturday.
He explained: “It’s a lifetime of work. It is not just that four years or three years of work, it is a lifetime of work.
“Everything I’ve done since I started gymnastics was demonstrated in that 46-second routine that I showed yesterday.
“It was all of the emotions, all of them under the sun were being expressed that day and you could see I was switching between hysterically laughing, hysterically crying, it was just overwhelming.”
The gymnast from Newtownards also paid tribute to his parents, Danny and Tracy, who were in Paris to watch his gold medal victory.
He said: “I only started getting funding for this sport when I turned 18 years old.
“I started gymnastics at six years old, that gap between there, that is all my parents, that is them driving me to and from the gym, paying my gymnastics fees, everything they supported and wanted me to pursue that dream that I had.
“This medal is just as much theirs as it is mine.”
Supporters also gathered at Origin Gymnastics in Newtownards on Saturday, the club where McClenaghan trains.
