From Laois to Paris: Portlaoise gymnastics judge discusses his Paris 2024 Olympics experience

Portlaoise Gymnastics Club's Denis Donoghue recently returned from the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he served as a gymnastics judge for the fourth consecutive Games. With years of experience under his belt, Donoghue has become a familiar face in the international gymnastics community, playing a key role in one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events.

Reflecting on his latest Olympic experience, he shared insights with the Leinster Express/ Laois Live into what it’s like to be part of the judging panel at the highest level of competition as well as being present when Rhys McClenaghan captured a gold medal for Ireland on the pommel horse.

Q: How has your experience as a judge evolved over the years ?

"I enjoy my judging a lot more now than I did as a young judge. I qualified as an international judge at 24 yrs of age. My first competition to judge was the European Championships in Budapest in 1992 when I was 25. I was a bag of nerves. Over the years you become more confident and more relaxed. You get to know and become friends with judges from all over the world. We become like a big gymnastics family. So not only are you judging at the highest level , you are also making friends that you will have for life."

Q: What are some of the biggest changes you've noticed in judging since your first Olympics?

"It's crazy how the standard of Gymnastics has improved. I believe there are two factors for this; 1. Gymnastics has become a science, there is a much better understanding now as to why the human body acts in the way it does. Biomechanics plays such an important role in the gymnasts training. Throw in factors like diet , proper rehab for gymnasts , proper mental preparation, proper training plans based on recovery periods and scientific knowledge in the training programmes. 2.The equipment that we use today is so much more advanced than when I judged my first Olympics in London 2012. Take floor for example. In London 2012, foam blocks were used under the floor area to give the gymnasts spring. Now underneath the floor area you have hundreds of springs. This allows the gymnasts to achieve more "air time" thus allowing for extra summersault's and twists."

Q: What was the atmosphere in Paris like particularly during Rhys's performance?

"The gymnastics took place in the Bercy Arena. I've had a few competitions there in the past so I knew what sort of atmosphere to expect . The men's team final on the Monday night was some competition. China just needed to stay on the high bar and they would be crowned Olympic Champions. For some reason, the last Chinese gymnast decided to do a very difficult routine and ended up falling twice and by doing so threw away the gold medal. To be honest, we couldn't really understand why he did such a routine as they were three marks ahead. It was an incredible atmosphere and at the end of the day the Japanese were worthy champions.

"For the apparatus final, the top 8 gymnasts on each piece of apparatus from the first day of qualifications will qualify. Rhys qualified in first place but we knew that the majority of gymnasts would increase their difficulty (D score). I'm always nervous when Rhys is competing, I will never forget him falling in Tokyo after so much preparation. This was a bit different. He won the European's and World's this year and his belief in himself was high. Luke (his coach) sent me his routine that he did in training the day before finals and it was magic. I thought to myself, wow, if he can repeat this he will be hard to beat. All of the big names had qualified for the final. I knew the ones to watch were Max Whitlock, who was the Tokyo Olympic champion and previous world champion, a fantastic gymnast , Stephen Nedoroscik from the USA, who won Worlds in 2021 and Narima Kurbanov from Kazakhstan who had posted around a 15.5 in one of the World Cups. Abu Al Soud Ahmad from Jordan, who was also one of the favourites had fallen in qualifying . Everyone knew it was going to be some final. The atmosphere was electric. It was great to see the Irish flags all around the arena.

"Kurbanov was first up and posted an unbelievable score. Max was third up and when I saw him open his legs in one of his circles I knew he wouldn't beat Kurbanov, such are the tight margins. Rhys was up next. He would have to do the routine of his life to win. This was the routine everyone was looking forward to. There are some stages in Rhys routine that are riskier than others, he sailed through these. Could we begin to dream? I looked over at Luke and before Rhys's feet had landed on the ground in his dismount, Luke was looking down at the ground, fists clinched. He knew Rhys had done the routine of his life and the arena erupted. When the score was shown and Rhys had taken the lead, I knew that only Stephen Nedoroscik would be the only one that could now pose any threat. Stephen had the advantage of knowing what he needed to do. He preformed a routine with 6.4 difficulty compared to Rhys 6.6. In my opinion he knew he was not going to catch Rhys and so opted for a safer 6.4 to get the bronze medal. After Stephen , here were still 3 gymnasts to compete. None of them could match Rhys. Rhys was Olympic Champion. You could see how delighted the entire international gymnastic community was for Rhys. He is the best pommel worker in the world and everyone was happy for him. The arena was electric."

Q: What's your most memorable experience from your career as a gymnastics judge?

"I feel very privileged to be judging for Gymnastic Ireland and have been extremely fortunate in my judging career. The team finals at the London 2012 Olympics where Great Britian, Japan and China were battling it out for 1st 2nd and 3rd will always stick in my mind for excitement and atmosphere. Judging the World Championships in Liverpool when Rhys became World Champion for the first time was very special but as an Irishman, judging at this level for over 30 years, to be judging at the competition where Ireland received it's first ever Olympic gymnastics medal will be hard to beat."

Q: What does Rhys' gold medal mean for gymnastics in Ireland? 

"Rhys winning gold in Paris can only be positive for gymnastics in this country. There are currently approx 37,000 members of Gymnastics Ireland, I think we will see this figure grow substantially. In my view, gymnastics is the basis for so many sports and I believe it should be thought in all schools as part of the curriculum. The benefit's for core strength and balance is second to none. In this era of focus on young people's mental health, the benefit's of exercise has also been shown to be so important."

Q: What events did you judge at the Paris 2024 Olympics?

"After the Tokyo games, where we were not allowed leave the hotel for the duration of the games due to Covid, the Paris Olympics were very welcoming , well organised and the city was thriving in the Olympic spirit. The atmosphere everywhere was wonderful. For qualification, I judged high bar and the vault. For team finals, I judged parallel bars and for apparatus finals, I judged vault again. Judges are drawn from a hat roughly an hour before the competition. For apparatus finals, all the panels are neutral which is why I will never be able to judge Rhys in a pommel final."