
Rhys McClenaghan
Gymnastics
BIOGRAPHY
Rhys started gymnastics when he was aged six with Rathgael GC and trained at the National Gymnastics Training Centre in Dublin from 2018 to 2023 but has trained at home, in Origins Gymnastics Centre in Newtownards, since mid-2023.
His breakthrough came in 2018 when he won Commonwealth and European gold on the pommel horse, beating the reigning Olympic champion Matt Whitlock on both occasions. In 2019, still in his teens, he became the first Irish gymnast to win a medal at World Championships (bronze).
In 2021 he became the first Irish gymnast to make an Olympic final. He was joint second highest qualifier (15.266) in pommel but a fall proved costly in the final where he finished seventh on a score of 13:100.
In 2022 he won silver at the Commonwealth Games and in the past two years he has won back-to-back World titles (Liverpool, Nov ’22 & Antwerp Oct ’23) and back-to-back European titles (Antalya April ’23 & Rimini April ’24), bringing his tally of major international medals to 8 (6 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze).