The Olympics dream is very much still alive, Rhys McClenaghan again balancing his incredibly cool nerve and biting ambition to secure his place in the pommel horse final with the joint highest score of 15.200.
By virtue of his higher execution score, it gives him the number one ranking for the final.
After winning back-to-back world titles last year in the most testing men’s gymnastics apparatus, where anything can and often does go wrong, McClenaghan has made no secret of his ambition to top the medal podium here, that final taking place back inside the Bercy Arena next Saturday.
His difficulty score was a relatively low 6.300, but his execution score of 8.900 was magnificent, as the Down athlete played things safe but also sure. One wrong move and that dream was over.
McClenaghan fully understands that deal. His hopes of making the Olympic podium in Tokyo ended after 10 seconds when he fell chest-first on to the horse and ended up seventh in the final. The now 25-year-old has grown in nothing but confidence since.
All that was on display here, an utterly flawless 45-second routine that was in the end perfectly done under the circumstances.
There was some pressure to make the eight-man final. Stephen Nedoroscik from the United States, the 2021 world champion, also scored 15.200 and Max Whitlock scored 15.166 as he seeks to become the first gymnast to win three pommel horse Olympic gold medals in a row.
“That takes a bit of pressure off the competition day, as I need to improve for tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that,” he said.
“Every single day I go into competition I am treating it like a competition and it’s draining, as every day I am nervous, I am putting pressure on myself to perform a routine even though it’s just in front of my coach in an empty gym. It then makes moments like this easier, as I’m familiar with it.
“I am at the top of mountain and enjoying the view. It’s something I’ve written down in my diary recently. That’s exactly what I am doing. I am at the Olympic Games, I’m a two-time Olympian, two times Olympic Games finalist.”
So, seven years ago after announcing his arrival at age 18, beating Whitlock to win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, McClenaghan will look to add to his eight championship medals in all (two World Championship gold and one bronze, three European gold, plus Commonwealth Games gold and silver) and there’s no disguising his desire now to win the only one missing.
“That’s certainly my goal after I proved that I can be world champion, twice,” he said before.
A relieved Whitlock also described the competition as the hardest he has experienced.
“It’s my last Olympic Games,” he said. “When it comes to qualifications, we’re in a sport that – I’m going to say it – I think we do one of the hardest sports because you get one shot and if that doesn’t go right on that first day, when the nerves are the highest and the pressure is through the roof, it could stop there. In your head, as a mindset thing, that’s so hard to deal with.”
In badminton, Dubliner Nhat Nguyen secured a 2-1 win over his Israeli opponent Misha Zilberman in the opening Group P match at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena.
Nguyen, competing at his second Olympic Games, won the first game against Misha Zilberman 21-17. Zilberman then took the second game 21-19.The deciding game saw the 24-year-old close out the match 21-13.
Nguyen returns to action on Monday to face 172-ranked Prince Dehal of Nepal, who lost 2-0 earlier on Saturday to world number two Viktor Den Axelson of Denmark.
