Rhys McClenaghan: 'You’ve got to risk it for top spot. That’s how high the standard was'

The Newtownards man completed an incredibly difficult routine to win pommel horse Gold on Saturday, but its execution was years in the making

McClenaghan pictured at the Pantheon in Paris with his Gold medal

From Tokyo to Paris. What a beautifully linear and crisp redemption arc. The kind of simple, uplifting narrative that any Hollywood script writer could pitch with confidence to the most hard-bitten, cigar-chewing studio mogul in the time it takes to close an elevator door.

And there is plenty to say for keeping it to this. The award-winning Inpho photographer James Crombie captured it perfectly with a tweet after Rhys McClenaghan had claimed gold in the men’s pommel horse final at the Bercy Arena on Saturday night.