Seven years of blood, sweat and tears unravelled in less than 10 seconds for Rhys McClenaghan in the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo yesterday.

Even if the magnificent arena was practically empty, the tension during the Pommel Horse final was palpable.

The 22-year-old Newtownards native was the youngest of the eight finalists and he was the second last to do his routine, thanks to a magnificent score of 15.26 in the qualification round eight days ago.

The British 2016 Olympic champion Max Whitlock had secured the last of the spots in the final. But the six-time Olympic medallist and eight-time world medallist knows when it is showtime.

He set the standard with a score of 15.58 – off 7.0 for the degree of difficulty and 8.58 for execution. It would not be bettered. Nobody matched his 7.0, and only the eventual silver medallist Chic Kai Lee from Taiwan had a better score for execution.

This was the standard expected of McClenaghan, making history as the first Irish gymnast to reach an Olympic final. He looked composed as he checked the apparatus with his coach Luke Carson.

But less than ten seconds into his 50 second-long routine, it went awry. One of his fingers got caught under one of the handles on the horse. He was forced to dismount and start again. He knew his chances of a medal had disappeared.

There are no second chances in this most exacting of events. The eight judges awarded him 6.4 for difficulty and 6.7 – the joint second-lowest of the night for execution – to give him a total of 13.1 and a seventh-place finish. It matters little that his qualification score of 15.26 would have been enough to secure the bronze medal. It wasn’t the final score he wanted, needed, dreamt about or felt he was capable of, but he was almost stoic in the acceptance of his fate. For a 22-year-old, he showed remarkable composure in dealing with what must have been a crushing disappointment. He spent 10 minutes in the mixed zone talking to the media. His resilience and mental fortitude can only be marvelled at. His love affair with gymnastics borders on an obsession.

“I have become obsessed with it. It’s an obsession of mine and I know that obsession isn’t stopped. I know that it is being fuelled as I speak right now.”

There were no hysterics. He explained in a matter of fact way why something as seemingly inconsequential as a wrong figure replacement can be so profound.

“One finger placement can throw you off course. That’s what makes the sport so exciting as well. That’s why, when you go into an Olympic final, everyone says anything can happen. That’s anything happening there.

 “It’s such a silly mistake, but I know I’ll come back even stronger from this. With disappointment comes a huge amount of motivation for more success. It’s a very early chapter in my gymnastics career. I’m the first Irish gymnast to be an Olympic finalist. So, I’ve broken down that barrier. The next Olympic Games I want a medal around my neck.”

When McClenaghan linked up with his present coach Luke Carson in 2014, the latter produced a ten-year plan, culminating in an appearance at the Paris Olympics in 2024. So, regardless of this setback, they are still three years ahead of schedule.

Moments after experiencing the most crushing disappointment of his career and a second successive mishap on the horse, having also come off during the European Championships in Basle in April, McClenaghan was already working out what he needed to do.

“What I need to do is go back to the gym, work with my coach even closer, and figure out a routine that will put me miles ahead of the rest of the field. I’m striving to be the greatest to have done it and not just that person squeezing into the final or squeezing into the medals. I want to be able to fall and still get a medal, to aim for that, that’s the kind of mindset I need to have, and it’s the mindset that has brought me to this point.

“Think about it, if I was to think of the mindset of every other Irish gymnast, I’d be at national level. I’m not thinking of that, I’m thinking of being the greatest of all time. I didn’t show that today, but I’m hoping for the future that’ll be the case.”

He noticed the excitement in the faces of his parents Danny and Tracy as they waved him off to Japan. But for Rhys, this was just another competition. “That’s how I felt when I stepped up that podium – that it was going to be another competition. I didn’t big anything up. Things like that [his mistake] just happen. I’m sad it happened on the Olympic stage. But it’s certainly not the last time I’ll be on the Olympic stage for sure.”

And he paid the warmest of tributes to his coach Carson. “He’s made all this possible. I want to thank him so much, he’s got a family, the amount of time he sacrifices for me is unfathomable, his beautiful family, wife Hannah, two kids, he’s leaving them every week, coming to Dublin to train me. Sometimes I find it hard being away from family and I can’t even imagine how it feels for him.”

Though he didn’t win an Olympic medal, Rhys McClenaghan did demonstrate a level of maturity that suggests that one day he will.