The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Louis pipped at the post but he’s delighted with silver
Gymnastics - World Championships
Louis Smith had World Championship gold snatched from his grasp in the very last seconds of Saturday’s pommel horse final in Glasgow. But the 26 year-old from Eye confessed to being delighted with his second silver of the week having been in the GB squad that finished runnersup to Japan in the men’s team competition.
And it wasn’t just the fact that Smith was pipped to glory by GB team-mate Max Whitlock that eased the agony.
“It’s hard not to be pleased,” said Smith. “Don’t get me wrong, I would love a gold medal but at the end of the day I was just relieved to get through my routine because I’d been so ill.
“Before the start of the championships it was up in the air because I had a throat infection so to get to the end of the competition with a silver is unbelievable.”
“I put Max under a lot of pressure so for him to go out there and do that routine, fair play to him.”
Smith produced a brilliant display to score 16.033 and put himself in pole position with just Whitlock left to go.
But his team- mate was also in scintillating form as he racked up 16.133 to nudge Smith into second and seal the gold medal – Britain’s first men’s individual gold at a World Championships.
And Smith was the first to congratulate his team-mate.
Smith is a true trailblazer of British gymnastics having claimed bronze on the pommel horse in Beijing 2008 and igniting a renaissance for male gymnasts in the country.
And he says there was pride rather than mixed emotions as he watched his countryman produce a stellar display in Glasgow.
He added: “The standard now is incredible from my first world championships in 2005. It’s crazy. So for me and Max to get first and second and post scores in the 16s shows something about the standard we are at.
“I have been playing catchup since I came back after having two years out of the sport, because everyone else has improved.
“Today was a show of that. I’m on the rise, I did my new routine here and you can see my mindset is all geared towards Rio.”