Rio 2016: Louis Smith blames change of plan 'literally seconds' before pommel horse fall after medal disappointment

It was Russia that took advantage of Smith’s slip but he was in no mood to enter that debate

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Louis Smith blamed a last-second change of plan from the Great Britain coaching team for his fall from the pommel horse in Monday night’s gymnastics final that cost his team a medal.

Smith had sat and watched five out of six rotations without being involved in the Olympic Arena before he was called up to his specialist piece of apparatus, the pommel horse, with GB in with a chance of claiming a medal in a close-fought contest.

Smith was suddenly asked to perform a harder routine to bump up the points. “A couple of days ago after qualification they said if it’s really close, to the wire, we’ll do your easier routine,” Smith explained afterwards.

“And it was pretty close to the wire and the coaches turned round and said: ‘you know what, let’s be bold and go for the bigger routine’.

“That was the decision made literally seconds before I walked up to the pommel routine. It was a challenge doing that routine after waiting five rotations. I’m coming out, I’m cheering for the guys and then to have to go back and get in the zone…it was a challenge, I’m not going to lie.”

Smith admitted the fault ultimately was his and was full of praise for the rest of the GB team.

“The guys were absolutely fantastic out there. I’m just disappointed in my own performance. I’m feeling pretty frustrated really. It was an incredible final, but yeah it’s disappointing.”

It was Russia that took advantage of Smith’s slip but he was in no mood to enter that particular debate. “Just not getting a medal is a disappointment – regardless of who we lost it to,” he said.

“But the calibre of gymnastics is absolutely incredible. Everyone’s performance was clean. It was an incredible competition to be a part of. I’m just upset I didn’t do my routine.”

His team-mate Kristian Thomas said it was now time to turn to their individual events.

“We’ve got mixed feelings really,” he said. “We gave it everything we had, sadly we came up a bit short. That’s sport, that’s gymnastics. We did everything we possibly could to try to win a medal. We’ve got individual events now, we need to refocus and look towards them.

“It’s the Olympics. Everyone wants it as much as we do. There was a possibility of a medal as we went to the pommel horse but other teams had strong apparatus [last] too. Maybe we could have nicked a medal, who knows?”