Louis Smith

Louis Smith began his love affair with Gymnastics at the age of 4. Suffering with severe ADHD, the sport captured his mind. Aged 15, he secured his first major international title, becoming Junior European Champion, and then Commonwealth Champion 2 years later.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Louis won Bronze, becoming the first British gymnast to win an individual Olympic medal in 100 years. With that success, he became one of the poster boys and Britain’s biggest medal hopes for the London 2012 Olympics. As captain, he qualified in first place for the pommel horse final, whilst also helping secure a team final place for the first time since 1926.

The rest was history in the making as three days later Louis led the team to Britain’s first ever men’s Olympic team medal with Bronze. Five days on, he took on his hardest ever routine in the pommel horse final, absorbing the pressure and securing his highest ever score at a major International competition, winning an historic silver medal and equalling the gold-medal winning score.

Louis has shot to fame off the back of his successes and no less so through his involvement in Strictly Come Dancing that same year. He was ultimately crowned champions, making 2012 a year he’ll never forget.

After some time away from gymnastics, Louis was back to the sport with a bang in 2014 with Gold & Bronze at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Gold at the European Championships, and a double silver World Championship medal in 2015. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he achieved another historic silver medal becoming the first ever British gymnast to medal at three consecutive Olympic Games.

Still maintaining his passion for dancing following Strictly, Louis toured the country in 2017 with ‘Rip It Up’ The 50’s with Jay McGuinness and Natalie Lowe, and once again in 2018, ripping it up through the 60’s with Harry Judd of McFly and Aston Merrygold of JLS.

Despite every intention of going for glory one last time at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, changes to the qualification criteria left him with the very difficult decision to hang up his leotard after a glittering 23 year career in gymnastics.

But he had very little time to relax as following that he immediately embarked on a 4 month stint in London’s West End with ‘Rip it Up’ The 60’s, and most recently, Louis announced that he will be touring the UK with the hit US musical ‘Bring It On’.