Regini-Moran reveals emotional origins of his long-awaited journey to Commonwealth Games podium

Giarnni Regini-Moran claimed he started plotting his path to the Commonwealth Games podium as he sat downcast in Tokyo’s Olympic Village last summer.

The 23-year-old gymnast was all smiles after claiming floor bronze to add to his team event gold from last week in Birmingham.

It was very different 12 months ago in Japan, as he was part of a Team GB squad that agonisingly missed out on an Olympic medal.

“I don’t want that feeling again, it’s the toughest thing to take,” he said.

“Coming fourth in Tokyo and missing out on medals fires you up. You want to be on that podium, you want to be leaving events like this with a medal around your neck. I can tell you this feels so much better.

“This year I was so motivated, I knew I had more to give, and I wasn’t close to my full potential. I’m still not but I’ve got so much confidence going forward now.

“I made a mistake in the routine, but I managed to keep a cool head because I knew it was to have any chance of a medal, I’d need to stick the landings. That’s the thing I’ve been focussing on, embracing the pressure and not letting things get to me.”

Regini-Moran will have another chance of Commonwealth Games silver in the men’s parallel bars final and then his focus will switch to forthcoming European Sports Championships in Munich and then the World Championships in Liverpool later this year.

And he praised his team-mates for their performances in Birmingham for inspiring him too, including newcomer Jake Jarman, who took his third gold of the Games with a victory in the floor event.

He added: “The team spirit we have is incredible, we work so hard together, we’ve trained for months and years for this. We bounce off each and we create our own team spirit, and you are seeing the benefit of that.

“We work hard, and we share pride in each other’s results but what Jake is doing, especially as one of the young guys on the team, is just incredible. He’s a real talent.”

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