London Calling No. 3: Louis Smith, wonder of the horse

Like Amir Khan, young Louis Smith was hauled down to the local gym as a hyperactive kid to burn off his excess energy. Both have subsequently developed into potential world-beating competitors and while their chosen crafts may be starkly different, in outlook and physique they are remarkably similar. Long-limbed, wide-shouldered and determined to use their hands to put them on top of the world.

In Smith's case these are employed for balancing rather than belabouring. A month short of his 18th birthday, he is emerging as potentially Britain's best male gymnast in a sport in which this nation has never had an Olympic champion. Yet by 2012 there is every hope that the Amir of gymnastics will be swinging his way towards the podium.

Smith's considerable talent is being honed in Huntingdon, something of a sporting backwater unless you count the equine activities down the road in Newmarket. But horses for courses. Smith's is of the pommel variety, upon which he swivels his hips and gyrates with a smoothness and dexterity that has already stacked the shelves of his village home in Eye, near Peterborough, with silverware.

Says his coach, Paul Hall: "Louis has had a fabulous year. He started 2006 by winning the Commonwealth Games gold on the pommel horse, then he successfully defended his European junior title in Greece and won medals in Grand Prix events, which gave him enough points to compete in the final in Brazil, where he finished fifth. He also won the British Championship.

"Then in Australia in January he won the gold in the Olympic Youth Festival, beating the Chinese, Japanese, all the top opposition. The important job now is to maintain this sort of form for the next five years."

Smith has been at the Huntingdon Olympic Club for more than 10 years. "He's a good all-round gymnast, especially on the pommel horse," says Hall. "I remember the meeting I had with his mum, Elaine, when he first joined. He had just got a scholarship to a choral school - he has a very good voice - and she was in a dilemma whether he should do that or gymnastics. I am glad that he chose gymnastics, but he has always got a potential singing career to fall back on."

Smith has the perfect physique for the pommel horse, which is like a vaulting horse with handles around which gymnasts circle the body in pendulum-like swings. "You need to be a certain shape, and he has very long arms with a slender body - a good aesthetic line. He is an amazing competitor. When there is a real stressful competition coming up, he has this ability to stand there in front of the crowd and the judges and remain calm. Not many can do that.

"Few youngsters, however hard they train, can actually switch on and focus in that atmosphere and keep their nerve under pressure. Beijing wasn't really on our target sheet, but since last year's results there is every chance he could qualify on the pommel horse."

Smith is one of several outstanding young gymnasts in Britain at the moment following the success of Beth Tweddle in winning the world title on the asymmetric bars. The Tweddle effect on gymnastics has been what the Amir effect was to amateur boxing, drawing hundreds of youngsters into the sport. "What she did for gymnastics - boys as well as girls - is just amazing. It has really put the sport on the map," says Hall, 42, who works as a British Gymnastics staff coach as well as running the prolific Huntingdon club.

The days of the anorexic pixie have gone, and gymnastics certainly seems a burgeoning sport, with 100,000 members at clubs throughout the country. Huntingdon, a veritable hotbed, has more than 600, and has produced a number of top contenders.

Smith, affectionately known to his mates as "Loopy Lou", started in gymnastics as a toddler at his village club, just like the scores of three- and four-year-olds bouncing daily across the floor of the Huntingdon club. He says: "My older brother Leon [now 21] had taken it up. I used to sit and watch him practice and I thought, 'I would like to have a go at that'." At 5ft 10in he is tall for a gymnast, and although it is usually a sport more suited to those of a smaller stature he says his height makes him "look quite elegant" on the pommel horse. "But I really don't want to get much bigger," he adds.

After joining Huntingdon his progress was swift, and unlike his brother, who gave up the sport at 14, he has continued to the point where he is now potentially one of the best male gymnasts Britain has produced. "At first I just enjoyed doing somersaults and things like that, but now the real thrill comes out of the competitions, performing in front of thousands of people." Although he says he has never been attracted to more orthodox sporting pursuits such as football or cricket, he does have a great interest in more esoteric ones such as Rollerblading and BMX.

"It is good that we now have Lottery money coming into the sport," he says. "This enables me to train and compete full-time. It's a big weight off my shoulders, and my mum's too. She's a single parent and has been terrific in supporting me. I owe so much to her. I don't think I would be in the position now if it wasn't for my mum. It's all very well having the support of a coach and your friends, but if it wasn't for her I would be nowhere."

Last week Louis was in Paris, where he finished fourth in a Grand Prix event won by the top Chinese, Teng Haiben. Hall says it was a highly impressive performance, which again confirms Smith's potential and stands him in good stead for the forthcoming European and World Championships and, they hope, qualification for Beijing.

The line between perfection and pain is a precariously balanced one and injuries are a natural hazard for any gymnast - Tweddle has been plagued by them - but Smith says so far he has been lucky, though an injured finger did keep him out of the last World Championships. "Nothing serious, just niggly ones, but even they can be worrying, because they can set you back a couple of weeks when you are learning crucial elements of new routines."

The new scoring system, which rewards the execution of difficult routines (there is no longer the Korbut-Comaneci perfect 10) suits Smith. "I am not the most stylish on the pommel horse but I have a good talent to learn lots of the harder skills, which raises my score."

Although his speciality is the pommel horse, he has also won team and individual medals on the other apparatus. "It's like any sport really, to achieve anything you have to be dedicated. Anyone can play sport, but the difference in making a champion is the dedication and the time you sacrifice."

These days his singing is confined to the shower - usually Michael Jackson numbers. As someone with natural rhythm, he is also into reggae and his favourite group, perhaps prophetically, is Destiny's Child.

Louis Smith receives funding through UK Sport's World Class Development programme, supported by the National Lottery, whose investment over the past 12 years has benefited grass-roots, community and elite- level schemes and facilities. The Lottery will invest up to £1.5bn towards staging the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

MENTOR'S MESSAGE: BETH TWEDDLE: Welcome to the main stage, Louis, it's a great place to be

Louis made great strides last year by first becoming the Commonwealth champion on the pommel horse and then following up with fifth place at the World Cup final in Brazil. This was a great transition to senior level for him, having been a two-time junior European champion. For Louis then to finish fourth in the World Cup event in Paris last week is fantastic.

Louis has been touted as a talent for London in 2012, but the way he is competing there is every chance we could see him in Beijing next year. This would be such good experience for him, so that by 2012 he should be fighting for those podium places.

He has started to benefit from National Lottery funding, which has enabled him to compete in Brazil and Paris and make a name for himself. Funding also allows Louis to work with the national team at camps both at home and overseas, and leaves him free to concentrate on training full-time to be the best gymnast he can.

We have a good crop of youngsters coming though and it is important that we encourage them to stay in the sport. The usual drop-out age is 14 to 15, but with people like Louis and myself showing that results can be achieved on the world stage, there is recognition that we are now a nation to be reckoned with. Success really is the best way to inspire young talent.

As for myself, I had surgery on my shoulder in January, but am now back in training and hoping to compete at the European Championships in April. My main focus is on defending my title at the World Championships in September, and I'm sure Louis will be there in his own right.

Beth Tweddle became Great Britain's first gymnastics world champion in 2006