CITY gymnast Louis Smith could be about to make British sporting history by grabbing himself a dream ticket to the greatest sporting show on earth.
After a series of superb displays on the pommel horse in 2007 – reaching a peak with a first medal for a British man in over a decade at the World Championships in Stuttgart – 18-year-old Smith has made himself a red-hot favourite for one of only two places on the gymnastics team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
If Smith is selected in April, the news will be a huge four-year leap into the future for the Olympic hopeful who many had thought would not be ready for the ultimate test of his precocious skills until London 2012.
But having proved his status as a world class competitor with a string of gold, silver and bronze medals at international events throughout the past year – the Hunts Gym Club member is eager to prove to the country that he is ready to make history.
"I obviously do not know what is in the selectors' minds for Beijing but I know what is in mine and I know I am ready now," he said
"A lot of people thought I would be targeting London in four years but with the way it has gone for me I feel ready to go to Beijing to try and become the first British man ever to win a gymnastics medal at the Olympics.
"Just lately I have realised that my dreams may be about to come true. No British man has ever even got to a final and I know I have the talent to deliver under pressure. I love to perform in front of big crowds, I always have. I have an excellent chance of being selected, I will just have to wait and see what happens."
But despite his relcutance to second guess the selectors, Smith should be confident of his place on the plane should he wish to take it.
The Eye youngster's performances on all six pieces of apparatus alongside clubmate Dan Keatings in Stuttgart, proved decisive in the decision to hand Britain two Olympic places instead of one and should be enough for Smith to head to the Chinese capital for a shot at a medal in his favoured discipline.
He said: "While I consider myself a six-piece gymnast, I would go to Beijing as a specialist in the pommel. I know I can compete with the best in the world in that discipline and only missed out on a silver at the worlds by a tiny fraction so I feel I have a real chance.
"But even just to be there would be amazing, pulling on the GB vest at the Olympics has always been my ultimate dream and would make all the hard work worthwhile – but a medal and a little piece of history would really be the icing on the cake."
After a series of superb displays on the pommel horse in 2007 – reaching a peak with a first medal for a British man in over a decade at the World Championships in Stuttgart – 18-year-old Smith has made himself a red-hot favourite for one of only two places on the gymnastics team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
If Smith is selected in April, the news will be a huge four-year leap into the future for the Olympic hopeful who many had thought would not be ready for the ultimate test of his precocious skills until London 2012.
But having proved his status as a world class competitor with a string of gold, silver and bronze medals at international events throughout the past year – the Hunts Gym Club member is eager to prove to the country that he is ready to make history.
"I obviously do not know what is in the selectors' minds for Beijing but I know what is in mine and I know I am ready now," he said
"A lot of people thought I would be targeting London in four years but with the way it has gone for me I feel ready to go to Beijing to try and become the first British man ever to win a gymnastics medal at the Olympics.
"Just lately I have realised that my dreams may be about to come true. No British man has ever even got to a final and I know I have the talent to deliver under pressure. I love to perform in front of big crowds, I always have. I have an excellent chance of being selected, I will just have to wait and see what happens."
But despite his relcutance to second guess the selectors, Smith should be confident of his place on the plane should he wish to take it.
The Eye youngster's performances on all six pieces of apparatus alongside clubmate Dan Keatings in Stuttgart, proved decisive in the decision to hand Britain two Olympic places instead of one and should be enough for Smith to head to the Chinese capital for a shot at a medal in his favoured discipline.
He said: "While I consider myself a six-piece gymnast, I would go to Beijing as a specialist in the pommel. I know I can compete with the best in the world in that discipline and only missed out on a silver at the worlds by a tiny fraction so I feel I have a real chance.
"But even just to be there would be amazing, pulling on the GB vest at the Olympics has always been my ultimate dream and would make all the hard work worthwhile – but a medal and a little piece of history would really be the icing on the cake."
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