Rhys McClenaghan

In October 2019, he won Ireland’s first ever World Championship medal, Bronze on the Pommel Horse, making him the most decorated Irish gymnast of all time.

He also competed for Northern Ireland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning the gold medal on the pommel horse. He followed this by winning the 2018 European Championships, pipping the reigning Olympic and two-time world champion, Max Whitlock on both occasions.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games held at the Gold Coast, Australia, McClenaghan won gold on the pommel horse, beating the reigning world and Olympic champion Max Whitlock by dint of higher execution score, after tying on overall scores. It was Northern Ireland's first medal for an artistic gymnast at the Commonwealth Games. At the 2018 European Championships, McClenaghan won the gold medal and became Ireland's first ever European champion.

McClenaghan formerly trained at Rathgael Gymnastics Club in Bangor until his coach was made redundant in June 2018. McClenaghan was forced to train in his back garden. He then relocated to Dublin, upon receiving funding and accommodation from Gymnastics Ireland and Sport Ireland to train in the Sport Ireland Institute in Abbotstown.

When he was still technically a junior, he won the bronze medal in the 2016 British Artistic Gymnastics Championships pommel final behind Olympic medalists Louis Smith and Max Whitlock. McClenaghan also won the first European Championships medal in history for Ireland, winning silver on the pommel horse at the 2016 Junior European Gymnastics Championship.

Rhys Joshua McClenaghan (born 21 July 1999) is an Irish artistic gymnast competing internationally for Ireland. In 2019, he became the first Irish gymnast to qualify to a world championships final and to also win a medal, taking bronze on pommel horse. In addition to his world medal, McClenaghan is the first Irish gymnast to compete in a European final and also the first to win a European medal.