County Down gymnast Rhys McClenaghan will compete in his second Olympic Games after being selected to represent Ireland in Paris this summer.
The 24-year-old achieved automatic qualification by retaining the pommel horse title at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp in October 2023.
He will now compete in the pommel horse event on July 27 and August 3 at the Bercy Arena in the French capital.
McClenaghan made his first Olympic appearance in 2021 when he finished seventh in the pommel horse event in Tokyo.
McClenaghan, who won his first world title in Liverpool in 2022 and has also won three European gold medals, a Commonwealth silver medal and a world bronze medal, expressed his delight at being formally selected.
“It is a great honor to be selected for my second Olympic Games. “It’s the biggest show in the world and I really want to go out there and do my best,” she said.
“My routine is challenging and ambitious, which is what it needs to be to compete at this level.”
The Newtonards man made history by becoming the first Irish gymnast to reach an Olympic final in 2021, but an early fall saw him finish seventh with a score of 13.100.
