SOMETIMES in sport at the highest level, the body language says it all. Within a millisecond of his dismount from the pommel horse yesterday afternoon, Rhys McClenaghan looked down at the mat and shook his head.
A routine that promised so much had been cruelly tossed off course, a momentary loss of balance throwing chaos into the kitchen as – a year to the day from his Tokyo Olympic disappointment – McClenaghan found himself battling, improvising, forced to drag something out of himself that would keep him in medal contention at the very least.
That he did so was a remarkable feat in itself but, as his hands went to his hips walking towards the hoardings at the side, reality was beginning to hit home.
England’s Joe Fraser, shining beneath the lights in his beloved Birmingham, had delivered a near-flawless routine immediately beforehand – McClenaghan’s dreams of topping the podium, just as he had done in Australia four years earlier, were over.
An inquiry regarding the difficulty level of the 23-year-old’s subsequent, unscripted routine had been lodged by coach Luke Carson, though he would later admit he had read the situation wrong.
Typically, McClenaghan was also in no mood to offer excuses.
“Going into the travel sequences, my shoulders were just a little bit behind me and that can set off your balance, so I had to split my legs to find that balance again and fight to stay on the horse,” he said.
“It’s definitely a challenge to do that, and you see many gymnasts almost have that domino effect where something goes wrong then it gets worse, and worse… that tends to be the way of pommel horse.
“I like to see my mind as being stronger than that, to be able to keep my composure until the end of the routine. That’s why I’ve got this silver medal. The number one rule of gymnastics is stay on the apparatus, don’t fall.
“I achieved that today, but at the cost of putting out a messy routine. I know I can’t be making those errors at the majors like the Europeans or Worlds. I don’t even think that routine would make a podium at those competitions, so I know what to do in training.
“I’m proud of this performance nonetheless.”
Had following on directly from Fraser had any kind of impact? Carson batted away the suggestion, pointing to McClenaghan’s experience of dealing with high pressure situations.
“It’s all about you and your performance and everything out of that shouldn’t matter,” he said.
“Judging is so subjective so even if you do the best performance of your life, you may not get the best score of your life or colour of medal you deserve and vice-versa.
“The only thing we control in gymnastics is our own performances and that’s what we focus on. The more experienced you become the better you are at that.”
That experience was evident yesterday, and the belief that he is capable of challenging at the very top end of the discipline by the time the next Olympic Games in Paris roll around fuels McClenaghan’s fire to continually improve.
“Every competition I go to I’m thinking that,” he said when asked if he expected to land another gold yesterday.
“If I ever started saying ‘oh, I just want to make the final’, you’ll know I’m finished gymnastics. I’m going to every single competition wanting to win gold, it would be silly for me not to do that because I know what I’m capable of.
“The European Championships are next – no days off here. We’ll be training tomorrow, preparing for Munich.”
Less than an hour before, McClenaghan’s team-mate Eamon Montgomery finished fifth in the floor exercise final – with the west Belfast man left frustrated as a medal opportunity went awry at his first Commonwealth Games.
England’s gold medal favourite Jake Jarman lived up to his billing to top the podium and edge Canada’s Felix Dolci into second place. Montgomery produced an impressive routine but an error during his final dismount proved costly as he ended up outside the medal places.
“It was a good routine up until the dismount - it was probably the worst landing I’ve done,” said the 19-year-old.
“I took a hop when I shouldn’t in a simple skill in the middle of the routine but the dismount was probably the killer there for me.
“There could have been medal potential there - it was looking [that way] until then. Like always it looks good until it’s not. I’m disappointed because I think I could have taken a medal there, but it’s not to be this time.”
This afternoon (1pm), the remaining member of the Northern Ireland gymnastics team, Ewan McAteer, competes in the men’s vault final.
