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Series 7: Rhys McClenaghan: Chasing Gold

Newtownards native Rhys competes in different international competitions for both Ireland and Northern Ireland on the pommel horse - one of gymnastics’ most challenging disciplines. He has won medals at all the major international competitions, including the Commonwealth Games and the European and World Gymnastic Championships, and he was the first Irish gymnast to qualify for an Olympic final. This documentary follows Rhys as he takes part in 2022’s three biggest gymnastics events – the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the European Championships in Munich and the Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool.\n\nAs we track Rhys during the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games, his intense training regime is knocked off course by an 11th-hour shock decision by the gymnastics governing body, banning him from competing for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games. He had previously represented Ireland in an international competition and was deemed ineligible to represent NI. It takes frantic political intervention and intense lobbying to point out that NI athletes are able to represent either Northern Ireland or Ireland. There’s a U-turn, but the uncertainty is a major distraction and unnerves Rhys’s mental preparations.\n\nOur cameras are with Rhys when he eventually competes in the Commonwealth Games, and we go behind the scenes to witness his family’s pride when he pulls off an incredible pommel horse routine. Will it score enough for Rhys to beat his rivals and take home a gold medal? We get an insight into Rhys’s relentless training schedule and hear about the personal and physical sacrifices that come with being an elite athlete as his parents Danny and Tracy reflect on how they spotted and nurtured Rhys’s talent when he was a young child and how meeting his present coach Luke Carson was a game changer when Rhys reached his mid-teens.\n\nFresh from the Commonwealth Games, Rhys throws himself straight back into training for the European Championships in Germany in August 2022. We see, at first hand, how he deals with the immense pressure of competition, where all his training comes down to a routine that lasts less than one minute where a split-second lapse of concentration could put him out of the event. As we see at the European Championships, sport is notoriously unpredictable, and Rhys must pick up the pieces after an unexpected and devastating outcome.\n\nWith one major competition still to go in 2022, the stakes have never been higher for Rhys as he prepares for his pommel horse routine in the World Championships. Failure at this level of elite sport can jeopardise future funding. Rhys, with the help of coach Luke, must overcome the weakness in his routine to deliver a flawless performance. We meet sports psychologist Jessie Barr, who explains how she helps Rhys work on his mental strength with the aim of minimising the impact of outside factors that might affect his performance. When Rhys arrives in Liverpool for the Gymnastics World Championships in October, he knows this is going to be the most crucial performance of his career to date. After the earlier ups and downs of 2022, he needs to prove his ability on the world stage and conquer whatever is causing him to falter. In a nail-biting final sequence, filmed in a packed Liverpool Arena, we are with Rhys every step of the way as he walks to the pommel horse, ready to compete against the world’s best gymnasts and achieve his dream of being a world champion.

Source: BBC 2