IT HAS TAKEN 14 years to build the dream and will require 60 seconds to perfect it.

But Rhys McClenaghan believes – in himself, his sport, his routine, his goal.

Watch the video for yourself (below). Note how the excellence of his technique is matched by an iron-clad belief.  He’s 20, he’s Irish, he’s a European champion, a world bronze medallist in the pommel horse and now he wants something else: Olympic gold.

“It is a routine that takes 60 seconds,” the county Down gymnast says. “We only get one shot at it. You have to make it count. I will.

“My parents taught me about belief at a very young age. Even as a young gymnast I felt I was going to nail routines. I started my senior career a year early to gain experience. The people I idolised, I soon realised, I have to take them on.”

And he did, beating the Olympic champion in his first senior competition. “That was crazy,” he says.

Then disaster struck. Injury. Surgery. Time for reflection.

“We focused on minute details, myself and my coach. We turned a negative into a positive. The thing is we want that top spot, want to be that far ahead of the field that we are undeniably the best in the world. We want to go out to the Olympics and come home with a gold medal.”