Olympic gold medalist Rhys McClenaghan was a worthy winner of this season's Dancing With The Stars as he lifted the glitterball trophy on Sunday night - and said the show has taught him a powerful lesson for the next Olympics.
The gymnast, 25, and his pro dance partner Laura Nolan wowed the judges and viewers at home with their outstanding routines week after week and finished on a high as they were voted DWTS winners after an incredible performance in the final show.
The Olympian scored two perfect 40s after he incorporated his gymnast tricks into his Spiderman routine to a Charleston and left the judges in tears after an exhilarating show dance to Beautiful Things by Benson Boone.
However, there'll be hardly a moment for Rhys to soak up his win as the pro athlete will be throwing himself straight back into full-time gymnastics training right away.
Speaking after his win about what's next, Rhys said: ' I go back into full-time training. My days will be gymnastics instead of dance and gymnastics so I look forward to that but I'll really miss dancing.
'Tonight I got a really similar feeling to how I feel when I compete in gymnastics and I didn't think anything would ever come close to that.
'I feel like that is just the power of dance - expressing yourself through movement, through emotions. That show dance in particular was just an incredible experience that I'll never forget.'
Although it'll be hard to use his newfound dancing skills in the Olympic Games, he said that after years competing on the top level in gymnastics, his experience on DWTS has taught him an important lesson.
Rhys said: 'It's hard to fit dance moves into gymnastics, they're such different things. But I learned the importance of enjoying performing. I know that I truly love performing.
'Dancing has taken away the "lifetime of work" aspect of it and it's only been showcasing something that I feel passionate about.'
The dance pair beat tough competition from the three other DWTS finalists Jack Woolley, Kayleigh Trappe, and Danny O'Carroll, and Rhys and Laura were humble in victory saying that 'anyone could have won'.
He said: 'I know that if I didn't win the glitterball then I would still be proud of myself walking away today.'
His proud dance partner Laura Nolan added: 'Before we went out all the pros got all their partners in a little circle and we said, this year in particular, anyone could have won it. The standard was so high, and everyone was just so proud of themselves.'
