Louis Smith won the first medal in 100 years of Great Britain as an individual Olympic gymnast. The medal he won was Bronze and he won that back in Beijing in 2008 for the Pommel Horse competition. He has recently announced his retirement from the sport at age 29.
Smith also won the silver medal back in 2012 in London Olympics and again a silver medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. His reason for retirement is to pursue other ‘exciting opportunities’ in life.
He announced the news on his Facebook page stating, “From a young age I wanted to compete at Olympic and represent Great Britain. To not only have one but three such opportunities and bring back four Olympic medals home; is something I am going to cherish for the rest of my life and I am really grateful for it.”
He further stated, “I am proud of what I have achieved and I hope that the legacy I left behind will inspire many gymnasts in the future.”
Smith also revealed that he had the intention of making a comeback for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but his choice to pursue other things has altered his decision.
In addition to four Olympic medals, Smith has also won four medals at Commonwealth Games, seven medals at European Championship and five additional medals at the World Championships.
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