YOG 2010: Oldham admits he's in a battle for Youth Olympic gold

Posted: Tuesday 17th August 2010 | 15:59

By Tom Reynolds, Sportsbeat, in Singapore

GREAT Britain's Sam Oldham claims his rivals for Youth Olympic Games gold are giving him his toughest competition ever.

DIFFICULT TASK: Sam Oldham believes he has got tough competition for gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore

Oldham, 17, arrived in Singapore as one of the 39-strong British team's top medal hopes, having won three golds at the European Junior Gymnastics Championships and two golds at last year's European Youth Olympic Festival in Tampere.

Oldham scored 86.850 points to sit second behind Japan's Yuya Kamoto's 87.200, with Oleg Stepko, of the Ukraine, in third on 86.800 after the qualification round for the all-around final.

He also booked his spot in four individual apparatus finals - the floor, horizontal bars, parallel bars and pommel horse.

"The gap between the top three is almost nothing," said Oldham. "This is the toughest competition I've ever had. Everyone has to improve a little bit for the finals.

"The finals will be completely different, and everything can change. I have to take the event as it comes."

In the women's competition Great Britain's Jessica Hogg - a late replacement for the injured Laura Mitchell - was 14th overall after all-around qualifying and also progressed to the floor final after finishing sixth on that apparatus.

"I'm really happy with that because I was really nervous before it started, my legs were shaking because I just really wanted to have a good start," said Hogg.

"Definitely the highlight for me was the floor because even though it's my favourite event I hadn't done a full floor routine since I came back from holiday.

"Before the start of the competition my coach was saying she'd be really pleased if I could get into the top 24 in the all-around so to be 14th is just amazing."

Lloyds TSB, proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and supporter of Team GB on their journey to the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games. Visit LloydsTSB.com/London2012