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Was watching Chip Venture World Polycomstring and

0:02

then carried the tunnel and it was practically

0:04

gay. You actually swear he had passed away. Like, that

0:06

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Subscribe now to the OTB football

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our donate now at momentum OTB com. Right now,

0:32

we're joined on the line by Ardent's firstever gymnastics

0:35

world

0:35

champion, Reese McClenaghan. Good morning to you.

0:37

How are you? I'm very well. I'm

0:39

very well. It's good to hear you say that. Where's

0:41

the gold medal? Right

0:43

here, sitting beside me.

0:44

No. I I myself. Have

0:47

you been just wearing around the house, looking yourself

0:49

in the mirror?

0:51

It's

0:51

just been sitting on my bad side table

0:53

just to remind myself when I wake up every morning.

0:55

That was actually real.

0:57

When does it sink in or has it yet?

1:00

I don't think it's quite sunk in yet, to be

1:02

honest. I don't know when it will.

1:05

Maybe will, who knows. But I'm

1:07

just so happy that it's done. It's like

1:09

a huge relief that, you

1:12

know, first of all, that I was able to perform

1:14

on that big stage. But then also

1:16

just to finally, you know,

1:18

have that that world titled, that I've joined the

1:20

BiTE for so long, it feels like such

1:23

a huge thing ticked off on my

1:24

list? Like,

1:28

we're on the outside we're complete amateurs when

1:30

it comes to Rhys, but it feels like the thing that

1:32

separates everybody at the end of

1:34

these big tournaments that you're at isn't

1:36

really technical ability. It seems like you're all

1:38

very, very talented. You've all done a gazillion

1:40

hours you all know exactly what

1:42

you're trying to do. It's that bit you talk

1:44

about there delivering on the big stage

1:47

that separates the medalist each time

1:49

that it

1:49

happens. Is that where the relief comes from?

1:51

You finally did justice to all the hard work in

1:53

those years of craft. Yeah. Very

1:55

much. So so you know all of that

1:57

physical preparation is done in the

2:00

the months before the competition. So

2:02

when you when you hit competition time, you're

2:04

arms shouldn't really be back fatigued at all.

2:06

So it's not like, you know, you're pushing through your marathon

2:09

or you're pushing your ball due to the limits

2:11

during the competition. You're actually

2:13

just tuning in on your skills.

2:16

And when you do that, around a skill

2:18

based sports, the nerves

2:20

have a part to play, then they're gonna

2:22

factors skills that you've actually got

2:25

especially for an apparatus like a formal

2:27

horse. You'll see people fall in all the time. It's

2:29

very rare to get a fall over for if there firstever

2:31

been a Polyverse final with new calls and

2:33

then I'd love somebody to send it to

2:35

me because it's just one of those apparatus

2:37

and

2:38

Luckily, I was able to hold my own nerves there.

2:41

And why this time? What what's

2:43

different about what just happened this weekend?

2:45

Enabled it that enabled you to

2:47

reach that level of excellence

2:50

and keep the nerves at bay or feel

2:52

the nerves and work with them.

2:54

So, I mean, I I feel like I

2:56

am able to do that, and I've

2:59

always been able to do that, and that's due

3:01

to kind of the mindset training that

3:03

goes into my my everyday practice,

3:05

you know, my coach and I do these

3:07

practice competitions where we create

3:10

high pressure situations. Sometimes, look,

3:12

you can get a bunch of school kids in to watch

3:14

my practice conversations just add that better pressure.

3:16

So it's something we do train for and,

3:19

you know, the the pre so this

3:21

is my fifth world championship. So it

3:23

certainly doesn't come easy.

3:26

But there's so many contributors

3:28

to to not having got that gold

3:31

medal in the

3:31

past. But, you know, it's

3:33

it's just a relief to have it done, not

3:36

Rhys I'm right in saying that you mentioned your coach there, Luke

3:38

Carson, and he's been working together for

3:41

long time eight years or so. You

3:43

changed up your common horse routine. Some

3:45

point in the buildup. So like how

3:47

crucial was that in terms of getting

3:50

over the line and getting Rhys medal?

3:52

Yeah. It was it's hugely crucial. It's

3:54

it's just a a perfect example of

3:56

things not going well and learning

3:58

from them, making a decision, and

4:01

making a call to to change the routine

4:03

for the better. And, you know,

4:05

it would say it was the tactic on the

4:07

new scale that we put into the routine coming into

4:09

this year to try and improve our our execution

4:11

score. Most week, but that routine just

4:13

didn't didn't compete well. It

4:15

it it's a screen scale and

4:18

it's just a seg on the onwards through a

4:20

goal of competitions, but I just split my

4:22

legs. And I was enough for the judges to

4:24

start to literally and I let me on

4:26

that execution score and take points off

4:28

me. So we thought, you know, that

4:30

that's what happened at the colonoscopy and so

4:32

where I got silver, even with that mistake,

4:34

and and then after European championships, I

4:37

just missed audio, not final because of an

4:39

error. So we went back to the training

4:41

hall. We we reassessed and

4:44

we thought of a routine that could take me

4:46

to take home this gold medal and

4:48

it worked

4:48

out? That must be even more

4:51

fulfilling in a way that, like, it's not just

4:53

the physical thing that you've had to

4:55

work

4:55

out. It's the strategic element that you've

4:57

delivered on as well. Yeah.

4:59

Certainly. You know, that a security

5:01

of Genoptix as well. It's finding individual

5:04

skills that sit average in mass individually.

5:06

So the routine is comprised

5:08

of ten skills So it's

5:10

about selecting those skills very carefully

5:13

and having a a nice balance of difficulty,

5:15

but then also executing them very And

5:18

my my routine knowledge is full of

5:20

those difficult

5:21

skills, but also the very nice execution

5:23

of them. What differences

5:26

having had the setbacks that you've had over the last

5:28

eighteen months, like, how how beneficial in the

5:30

in the long run? Has that been to you? I

5:32

know at the time they actually don't feel

5:34

like, oh, great. Yeah. Another another

5:36

day of learning where I'm really disappointed.

5:39

Yeah. I certainly don't. It feels

5:41

like you're not done and

5:43

then somebody's stomping on your head

5:45

while you're done. On the ground. If

5:48

you lose competition after competition or

5:50

have failure after failure. But

5:52

because of that, it makes the

5:54

successes so much sweeter.

5:56

And I feel like that's why in

5:59

my post post competition

6:01

interview, all I didn't Rhys. I did

6:03

not get one word out in that interview.

6:06

I just cried because there was so much

6:08

relief, and I know

6:10

how hard it was to go back into that

6:12

gym. After those failures and and

6:14

be composed about it, learn from the

6:16

mistakes, and, you know,

6:19

an app will be put on a performance like I did

6:21

in

6:21

Liverpool. Because you can't have been composed when

6:23

you you know, when everything you've been working for

6:25

a number of years and and it

6:27

does fall apart like

6:28

that, can't have been composed it. You must have been

6:31

in turmoil. Yeah. You

6:33

know, it it's I I

6:35

was composed for the most part, I must

6:37

say. But, you know, obviously, you

6:39

train for hours on ends and

6:41

put put in every day of my life is dedicated

6:43

to gymnastics. And then when you're

6:45

one moment, it doesn't go to plan. You

6:48

know, of course, that's gonna have a a

6:50

negative effect on your mentality, but

6:52

it's just you don't want it

6:54

to over overtake your mindset.

6:56

You don't want it to be a mindset that

6:58

sticks. You can be disappointed. I let myself

7:00

be disappointed because I know that

7:02

I flipped out disappointments into

7:05

in the motivation because I never wanna feel

7:07

not feel in again. So for example,

7:09

after the Olympics, I was like, yeah,

7:11

down random disappointments, but I'm gonna

7:13

turn this into motivation. And

7:15

I I did exactly

7:16

that. And I think that's one of the reasons

7:18

why I I'm on top of the world right now.

7:20

How much would you say, Reese? Your discipline

7:22

is is physical versus mental

7:24

because that's something that struck me after your, you

7:26

know, in your interview, I was thinking that such a normal

7:28

reaction and emotion to become a world champion, not

7:30

being able to

7:31

speak, and being so emotional. Like, clearly,

7:33

in the

7:33

physical shape to any gold metal, but how

7:35

much of it is is on the metal side?

7:38

I I would I would say that gynastics

7:41

for me, anyway, is eighty percent

7:43

mental and twenty percent physical. Right?

7:46

That's just a rough estimation. Not a

7:48

bogie tied in my Ireland's Yeah.

7:50

Yes. Of course. You have to put in that

7:52

that physical grind. You OTB go

7:54

into the gym every day. You gotta do that. But

7:56

even the gap there the gym, you put in

7:58

the effort It's all up here. It's all in your

8:00

minds. And that's where

8:02

I feel like a a thrive in the

8:04

sports where when, you know,

8:07

the shoulder gets up a man, they have to get

8:09

surgery and pursue rehab or have

8:11

multiple risk fractures. You

8:13

know, it's it's something you have to always

8:15

push cost mentally before you even

8:17

get your body back to physical

8:18

ship? Like, it strikes me as

8:21

well. Max Whitlock, the team GB

8:23

actually congratulate and and some

8:25

lovely words he said about you afterwards. And

8:27

and like he's he's got the three

8:30

three medals at that world level. He's Olympic

8:32

champion. People are talking about this

8:34

rivalry kind of building up. I know you you probably

8:36

have a few years on them, which is an advantage to

8:38

yourself. But like, is that

8:40

something that you kind of look for in gymnastics? It's

8:42

an individual sport. And yet, to have these

8:44

kind of rivalries and people that you look at

8:46

to to kind of target must be a must

8:48

be a positive

8:48

thing. Yeah. I think it is a positive

8:51

thing. And I

8:53

I welcome it, to be honest. And

8:55

I don't think it's done enough in gymnastics, you

8:57

know. You see the botchers, you see the alumni

8:59

fighters as always. There's there's two to

9:02

two conferences, and that's what builds

9:04

up the hype to the I want

9:06

that to be the case in gymnastics too.

9:08

You know, I I said after

9:10

the first time I beat marks the the

9:12

crime done, but jumped in when I was eighteen,

9:14

I said, I'm comment for that world title next

9:17

month. In my in my post

9:19

competition, Instagram Rhys, I

9:21

feel like that was the the initiation

9:23

of the rifle under

9:25

it's something that does move the baby and training as well.

9:27

And, you know, when I'm sitting on my ball and training,

9:29

I think of what's what's Max

9:31

doing or what's our Chinese guy doing and

9:33

training that

9:34

know, gatting off a bum and mix or a bit harder

9:36

than never. That's what I wanna see in in

9:38

Paris, you know, the a fierce

9:40

off a face off in terms of

9:42

gymnastics. Like, you to figure out the box in

9:44

reference, like, you you've you've referenced

9:46

Katie Taylor as well as as as someone who's

9:48

who's inspired you as well in lower

9:49

stitch. Yeah. Of course. I mean,

9:52

it it it's people

9:54

seem surprised that I say Katie Taylor

9:56

is one of my biggest since Rhys some sport.

9:58

III can't feel like when

10:00

we understand why she's the greatest of all

10:02

time in what she does. And

10:06

as any Irish athletes

10:08

being able to say, that's completely

10:10

undisputed like Katie Taylor has.

10:13

That to me is just remarkable. And

10:15

to see an Irish athlete doing that

10:18

is is very very

10:20

inspirational to

10:20

me, and it's true to me that why can't

10:22

I aim for that too? What does

10:25

that mean for you then over the next period of time?

10:27

Like, I know, you're

10:29

in the absolute sweet part of of

10:31

greatness at the moment and the Olympics is on

10:33

your radar. How long can you

10:35

be a full time gymnast four

10:37

Is there an exterior life that you need to

10:39

fall back into and kind of develop at

10:41

the same time? So that gives you a little bit of comfort

10:44

or escape from gymnastics? Or is

10:46

it purely a gymnastics bubble at the

10:47

moment. What's that like? I I

10:49

mean, I love what I do, so it makes

10:51

that that's hard work

10:53

even more bearable. I want to

10:55

go into the gym and push my body in mind to

10:57

the limits since, you know,

10:59

maybe there is a time limit or But

11:02

there's a guy that came third and the

11:04

formal works final. He's thirty eighth. Mhmm.

11:06

He's he's thirty eighth. That's crazy. He said, well,

11:08

Rhys World Medalist ever there. So that's a little bit of

11:11

an exception. And I don't feel like I'll go

11:13

to thirty eight years old in

11:15

this work, which is fine by me.

11:17

But, you know, that just kinda with

11:19

the time frame, I could be doing

11:21

this into my

11:22

thirties. So that's that's a very exciting

11:24

thing. So, hopefully, there's a lot more gold medals to

11:26

come with And is there a

11:28

separate career plan? Do you do you

11:30

find that you need to dedicate all of your

11:32

brain space to thinking about and

11:34

visualization and Rhys?

11:36

Or do you actually want to go and

11:38

study and, you know, develop that other part of

11:40

your of your life so that these two things kind

11:43

of coexist what's your strategy

11:45

and approach to

11:45

that? Yeah. Well, I I'm a

11:47

qualified gymnastics coach now, so I'm

11:49

trying to work my way up the

11:51

qualifications and hopefully one

11:53

day comma coach, maybe open up my own club.

11:55

You know, there's a lot of ambition outside of

11:57

gymnastics, well, outside of my

11:59

actual gymnastics career, it's

12:01

still pertaining to gymnastics because

12:03

I feel like it would almost be a

12:06

waste of knowledge, you know, of me

12:08

being in Rhys sport for all of my

12:10

life and then just stopping it and

12:12

moving on to something else to start in

12:13

Fred. I would love to carry on

12:15

that knowledge out of being throughout the years

12:17

and audited the younger generation and

12:20

and helped them become world

12:22

champions and hopefully even beat

12:24

my achievements. Who took you

12:26

first to a gymnastics club? What was the

12:28

impetus behind

12:28

that? It was just my

12:30

mom and dad. They took

12:32

me to just a local battery center.

12:34

It was Genoptix club.

12:36

They just had, you know, branches, you

12:38

know, that kind of school pea

12:41

equipment in terms of Genoptix six.

12:43

And I just love Rhys really way, even the

12:45

simplicity of the, you know, the small

12:47

square trampoline that jump off

12:49

on their soft bra. That was just That

12:51

was awesome to me. That was so cool,

12:53

and there was something that yeah.

12:55

I always say that I was doing gymnastics before

12:57

I went to that gymnastics club. I was

12:59

always bouncing on my on Champlain my back

13:02

garden climbing

13:02

trees, teaching myself how to do a bathtub on

13:05

the Champlain. So when I got that

13:07

opportunity to go to those facilities, it

13:09

was it was very nice And

13:11

when did you start deciding that, okay,

13:13

I'm gonna just do nothing but this now for a

13:15

while and and get good at

13:16

that, basically? It was one of

13:18

it. So I I for some reason,

13:20

I remember this conversation very carefully

13:22

with my mom. I had to leave to NASA

13:24

Extreme very early. One

13:26

one evening to go to football practice.

13:29

And I, you know, I loved doing other sports, I

13:31

loved doing football. But I remember to say, I'm

13:33

like, I I just I just want to

13:35

focus on gymnastics. I felt

13:37

like there's guys in that

13:39

gymnastics gym working hard.

13:41

And I was leaving and going and

13:43

playing

13:43

football, and I want I just wanted to be in that

13:46

gymnastics gym all the time. And improve

13:48

my skills. Are you do

13:50

you see yourself? Rhys sound like someone who is, but

13:52

like a student of other sports as well at least like

13:54

watching other sports people, like you mentioned, Katie

13:56

Taylor there. But whether it's boxers or

13:58

golfers or footballers, like almost

14:00

picking up little bits here and there and and and

14:02

tip bits of information from from people

14:04

outside your own

14:04

sport? Yeah. Certainly. I

14:07

think my go to is definitely boxing.

14:09

All the amateur boxers and,

14:11

you know, the professionals too.

14:13

I I love their mindset. And, of course, as

14:15

I said, eighty percent of my scores,

14:17

I believe, is is mindset. So,

14:20

you know, when I do look at those

14:22

boxes and they they January

14:24

believe that they're going to do the fight and

14:26

win. That's something that

14:28

I feel like a lot of sports

14:30

people might not do. And

14:33

I I feel like I can do that. I feel

14:35

like I can handle the pressure of saying,

14:37

I want to become world champion

14:39

and I go and do it. So

14:41

and, you know, it it might take

14:43

that that fifth world championships that I

14:45

go to to get

14:45

it, but I'm I'm gonna make sure that I'm

14:47

gonna do it. It's a relapsed thing, isn't

14:49

it that inhibition and and not

14:51

being willing to kind of put yourself out there and

14:53

say I'm gonna be the best because we're we're kind

14:56

of naturally the opposite. Maybe

14:58

as as as a nation, I know that's a

15:00

generalized statement, but overall, I think

15:02

we are. So I think we

15:04

attach ourselves to people like yourself and athletes

15:06

who who are so ultra confident on

15:08

on the world stage. Like borderline

15:10

cocky, and I mean that in a positive sense, like,

15:12

it's it's so refreshing to see someone

15:14

like

15:14

that. Yeah. And I and I

15:17

understand it. I really do. I understand

15:19

why why people don't

15:21

like to say, you know, I wanna do

15:23

this and do that. But what what I

15:26

like when I do interviews is I

15:28

just I just speak my mind. I I

15:30

speak what's what's motivating

15:32

me to Rhys. And when I

15:34

say that's you know, I want to

15:36

become world champion that. I'm I'm telling

15:38

you that that's what would have be with me every

15:40

day to go into that gym. And

15:42

and work harder than ever. And,

15:44

you know, that that's why this

15:46

work this work on mission model

15:48

is such a huge team to make. But

15:50

I think also a reason people don't

15:54

state their goals is because they

15:56

they like to keep it foggy. So if they if

15:58

they don't achieve that goal, then it's not

16:00

such a big deal. And I feel like that's why

16:02

I take my dick so so

16:04

hard. That's why after the

16:06

Olympic Games final when I fail,

16:08

went went into the room and checked the

16:10

door off the hinges. You know,

16:12

I I was so angry because I knew

16:14

that that was my goal to go there and have

16:16

a podium finish. And it didn't happen.

16:18

But as long as I as I

16:20

said, don't let that continue into my

16:22

training and then then with their

16:23

competitions. Then it won't be a problem, and it

16:26

won't even Rhys Well, now you

16:28

put the gold to to back that up, like and

16:30

so that frees you from any burden of any

16:32

of the past me. Do you actually just look a

16:34

pack as part of the motivation to get you

16:36

to that first gold. It's twenty

16:38

one twenty twenty months

16:40

to deal Olympic Games in

16:42

Paris. Have you got every every

16:44

single second of every day? You might tag to

16:46

that? Or is there a little bit of

16:48

time for that kind of calendaring

16:50

just

16:50

yet? Yeah. Well, we we've got I'm

16:53

gonna have two weeks off, one or two weeks

16:55

off here, and that's much

16:57

needed. It's been a long, long

16:59

year, a difficult year, and it's

17:01

it's just one of those years where our competition

17:03

season was year Rhonda's first time that

17:05

I'm not in competition mode. So

17:07

I'm just gonna enjoy living somewhat of

17:09

a normal life socialize

17:12

with my with my friends a

17:14

little bit more and spend

17:16

some fun with time as well. It'll it'll be nice

17:18

coming up to coming up to

17:20

Christmas with you know, knowing I've

17:22

got the job done this year, haven't done

17:24

my my greatest achievement ever.

17:26

And, yeah, a

17:28

little bit of a normal

17:28

life. Is your diet ridiculous? Do you have

17:31

to, like, load the calories on?

17:33

Or do you have to keep them off? Like, what what how

17:35

do you balance your

17:36

weight? How does that work? It's more about

17:38

more about energy, really. So

17:40

I wouldn't really put on fat. I'm

17:42

I'm probably saying I have about eight

17:44

percent body OTB. And

17:48

that's just because of the intensity of our train

17:50

analysis style of training that we do where

17:52

I would just burn off all the

17:54

calories. So, you know, my nutritionist is always want

17:56

me to eat more eat

17:58

more carbohydrates because they would fuel me

18:00

for my sashions. And

18:02

that that's more of

18:05

the the the aim behind my

18:07

nutrition is due to my sessions

18:09

and recovering

18:09

hours. Sorry. How many calories a day would you

18:12

be

18:12

eaten? III couldn't get you an

18:15

almost answer. I don't I don't count calories. Should

18:17

find some good protein or

18:19

carbohydrates because I feel like I would get too obsessed

18:21

about it. Okay. I would get too too

18:23

involved in it and want to to

18:25

be think of it to affect my gymnastics maybe.

18:27

So I just I left my nutritionist

18:29

to do all the content and she

18:31

just recommends me big

18:33

OTB dietary

18:34

requirements. Is

18:34

that, like, like, lots eat lots and lots and

18:37

lots? Is that are you basically Yeah.

18:39

Eight eight more than I think? Or or

18:41

more than my my stomach things as well. So -- Mhmm.

18:43

-- filling myself quite quite

18:46

well on every meeting before I try it

18:47

anyway. Well, listen. Congratulations. Enjoy whatever

18:49

the downtime brings you over the next couple of weeks.

18:52

And, like, you know, the whole country has

18:54

now invested emotionally in

18:56

gymnastics. Apart from your

18:58

team, of being our first ever gold medalist and our greatest ever

19:00

gymnast. You've turned the whole country onto a

19:01

sport, which is kinda care to tell her asking its

19:04

own way, Reese. Yeah. It's fair

19:06

enough. And it's always been one of

19:08

my major goals. And the sport is

19:10

just to promote it to to give

19:12

young people the opportunity that I've had and

19:14

the joy that I take from the sports

19:16

and actually like this is

19:18

it's a it's a it's a great opportunity

19:20

to promote

19:20

that. Yeah. Good stuff,

19:21

Reese. Thanks a million for joining us. Cheers.

19:24

Thanks OTV

19:24

AM with Gillette in

19:27

association with November,

19:29

everywhere shave, magnificent

19:32

molds.