Strictly star Smith considers quitting gymnastics after London 2012 ... - Daily Mail

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By Alex Horlock

PUBLISHED: 11:29 GMT, 21 September 2012 | UPDATED: 13:23 GMT, 21 September 2012

Team GB’s double Olympic medal-winning gymnast Louis Smith has said he could quit the sport before Rio 2016 because he may be ‘too old’ to challenge for a podium place.

At only 23, Smith, who won a bronze medal in the men’s team gymnastics and silver in the pommel horse at the London Games, also has other goals he wants to pursue.

Although the Peterborough gymnast is currently in training for both gymnastics and hit TV show Strictly Come Dancing, Smith wants to launch a clothing range or start a property business, and believes these other ventures would be incompatible with full-time training.

Game changer: Louis Smiith (right) is competing on Strictly Come Dancing

But Smith would be 27 in Rio, the same age as Krisztian Berki, the Hungarian who beat him to gold in London.

When asked whether retiring before the Brazil Games would be too early, Smith told Sportsmail: ‘It’s not to do with it (retirement) being early. It’s to do with being 27 and being past my day.

‘I mean, what happened in London, I was 23-years-old and in the peak of my career, I did the best routine of my life.

‘I’m not going to do better than that, so what am I going to achieve in Rio? Another bronze? Another silver? It’s not going to compare to this summer.’

‘Like I said, I would love to get to Rio, but it (retirement) is an option. I have got to think about life, life is bigger than Rio.’

Game over? Smith could quit gymnastics rather than compete in Rio

He added: ‘I wouldn’t class it as giving up or quitting. I can look back on my career and I have 11 major international competition medals.

‘I’ve got three Olympic medals, I can look back and say if I was to retire, “I have had a fantastic run”. I wouldn’t be giving up, I would be retiring on a massive high.

‘But I’ve got to think about my future. I’ve got a lot of things that I want to do. Like my fashion range, my clothing range, my property - I want to set up a business.

‘I can’t really do all those things and train full-time so I will make a decision about what I am going to do.’

For now though, Smith is starring in the new series of BBC ballroom dance show Strictly Come Dancing.

Silver lining: Smith finished second in the pommel horse competition

Although used to spending hours training to be among the world’s best on the pommel horse, Smith said the regime for the TV show was just as tough.

Smith, who was running a training session for children at his gym in Peterborough for Sky Sports Living for Sports, said: ‘To be completely honest, it’s hard work. My body’s aching, I’m getting ill, I’m getting run down.

‘Lots of people say you must find it easy compared to gym. But it is hard work, to do what they do.

‘I train 10 to 4 and then my partner will stay longer and carry on dancing. I’m in bits.’

Living for sport: Smith (centre) is involved with the Sky Sports scheme

Louis Smith is supporting Sky Sports Living for Sport, a free secondary schools initiative that uses sport stars and sport skills to skills to improve the lives of thousands young people across the UK.

Find out more and get involved at: www.skysports.com/livingforsport

London 2012: GB rhythmic gymnastics team set to disband - BBC Sport

AppId is over the quota
Great Britain's Olympic rhythmic gymnastics team are set to disband because of a lack of funding.

The six-strong squad, who were set up at Team Bath in 2009, self-financed their entry to London 2012.

They were initially denied a place at the Games after falling short of the qualifying mark, but the decision was ratified on appeal.

However, they failed to make an impact in the group event and did not progress to the final.

Team-member Jade Faulkner told BBC Wiltshire: "We've had to split up.

Tearful gymnasts' Olympic dream appears to end at January test event

"Unfortunately the funding isn't sufficient so the group can't carry on anymore, and we all had to take a year out of education.

"We will still be training as a group but not as intensely.

"I'll be concentrating on individuals for the Commonwealth Games in two years."

It is not yet known whether British Gymnastics intend to enter a rhythmic team comprising of new gymnasts for Rio 2016.

Faulkner, along with team-mates Rachel Smith, Frankie Fox, Georgina Cassar, Louisa Pouli and Lynne Hutchinson, were the first ever rhythmic gymnastics team to represent Great Britain at the Olympics.

Their entry was surrounded by controversy after they fell 0.273 marks short of the 45.223 qualifying target set by their governing body.

But they appealed the decision, arguing the criteria had not been made clear to them, and an independent arbitrator ruled in their favour.

At the event, they failed to make the final, having finished 12th out of 12 teams in qualifying on Thursday, 9 and Friday, 10 August.