GOLD FOR IRELAND

Well done Rhys McClenaghan

Gold medal for pommel horse at European championship.

Bring on the world and the olympics! He’s good enough to win them based on that performance

Star Bingo

Well done kid; nice to hear the anthem great routine

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The second he finished the routine he knew it'd done it, the BBC commentators knew he'd done it, but I sweated until the next four competitors finished.

Well done! Wonderful to see it live and to hear the anthem. A shame RTE couldn't wait five more minutes to show it though.

I’m watching on bbc. Did RTÉ turn off before the medal ceremony?

Duff

Anywhere I can see highlights?

TheValeyard

503

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

I’m watching on bbc. Did RTÉ turn off before the medal ceremony?

Incredibly, they did, to go to the horse show. :mad:

Niles Crane

Raquel Beautiful Dice wrote: »

Incredibly, they did, to go to the horse show. :mad:

It's a medal ceremony, I would think live sporting event should and would get preference over showing a medal being presented.

Obi_Wan_Kenobi

These nonsense "sports" people support if their country starts winning - people would support hammer throwing if Ireland were good at it.

I’d like to see you try men’s gymnastics, obi. FFS

TheRiverman

Never heard of him.

iamwhoiam

TheRiverman wrote: »

Never heard of him.

Well you did now

Duff

Duff wrote: »

Anywhere I can see highlights?

Scroll down the news report and video there

https://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2018/0812/984596-rhys-mcclenaghan-takes-pommel-horse-gold-at-europeans/

Duckworth_Luas

TheRiverman wrote: »

Never heard of him.

I know. It's not as if he's Ronnie Pickering!

vicwatson

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

I’m watching on bbc. Did RTturn off before the medal ceremony?

Wouldn’t surprise me

Marje

Can watch it here if anyone is interested

https://twitter.com/RTEsport/status/1028647711556288512

Duckworth_Luas

How long before they find that the pommel horse was doped?

judeboy101

Amazing performance, but...... Rhys represented norn iron , under a sectarian flag and sang god save the queen. He is representing Ireland because he didn't make Team GB.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

judeboy101 wrote: »

Amazing performance, but...... Rhys represented norn iron , under a sectarian flag and sang god save the queen. He is representing Ireland because he didn't make Team GB.

I'm not sure where you are getting your information from but he represented Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games (as many of out boxers have done through the years) and stood to Danny Boy under the Cross of St Patrick and had declared for Ireland before even going to competition. The GB team would have snapped him up if they could.

metaoblivia

judeboy101 wrote: »

Amazing performance, but...... Rhys represented norn iron , under a sectarian flag and sang god save the queen. He is representing Ireland because he didn't make Team GB.

And? All of the gymnasts who've represented Ireland at major competitions in recent years (Kieran Behan, Ellis O'Reilly) have come from the GB training system. Ireland's only senior woman in the mix for Worlds this year, Meaghan Smith, is from Canada. Each of them started off their careers trying to make the national team of their birth country and then switched to Ireland when they couldn't. For years, Ireland didn't even have the basic equipment to host their own national championships. When that's the case, you have to rely on athletes from other, superior training regimes.

Rhys, since he was a junior, has always represented Ireland in major competitions. He's repped Norn Ireland too, at British Champs and Commonwealths, but that's because he is Northern Irish. He's so young - why not give him as many opportunities to compete as possible?

Gymnastics Ireland has come a very long way in the past decade and, if you want homegrown talent, look at the junior women's team, who all come from Galway, were trained in Ireland by Irish coaches. They had their best ever finish at Euros this year. It was 18th place and they didn't make any finals, but for a country that only recently got the equipment and facilities to host major international competitions, it's a big step.

It takes time to build a great gymnastics programme and Rhys being successful will only help bring more resources to Gymnastics Ireland.

judeboy101

Raquel Beautiful Dice wrote: »

judeboy101 wrote: »

Amazing performance, but...... Rhys represented norn iron , under a sectarian flag and sang god save the queen. He is representing Ireland because he didn't make Team GB.

I'm not sure where you are getting your information from but he represented Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games (as many of out boxers have done through the years) and stood to Danny Boy under the Cross of St Patrick and had declared for Ireland before even going to competition. The GB team would have snapped him up if they could.

Last time I checked, Ireland didn't take part in the commonwealth. Only citizens of commonwealth countries do. To be a citizen of "NI" one must be a citizen of the UK. As for the "cross of St patrick", if you knew its origin and how its thought of by the nationalist community you wouldn't be so quick to did miss it as a sectarian flag.

jamesbere

I'd happily swap Ireland for gold

UsedToWait

judeboy101 wrote: »

...a sectarian flag.

a fleg you say?

judeboy101

jamesbere wrote: »

I'd happily swap Ireland for gold

^^ and that's the reason we have had 800 years of pain, war and death on this island