The 19 year-old from Eye won a bronze medal in the pommel horse – Team GB's first gymnastics medal in 80 years and the first for a British individual in a century.

Having received the highest 'A' score in the final field of eight – 6.700 – Smith's performance of poise and strength earned a 9.025 from the 'B' panel, giving him a total score of 15.725.

Having finished level on points with Croatia's Filip Ude, who was awarded the silver medal, Smith was placed third after the tie-break procedure. The event was won by China's Xiao Qin with a score of 15.875.

"I was emotional, scared and nervous," said Smith. "It was absolutely unbelievable. I thought it would feel like competing in a Commonwealth Games or world championship, but it was a completely different level.

"It was just crazy. I hope this medal is a stepping stone for British gymnastics. Hopefully it won't be the last and we can go onwards and upwards. I hope it will inspire youngsters to come into our sport."

Read James Westgate's Louis Smith feature:
An over-active kid from Peterborough going for gold in Beijing, 16 August 2008.
------------------------------------

A Commonwealth Games gold medallist for England in 2006, Smith in 2007 became the first British male gymnast in 13 years to win a world championship medal when he picked up bronze in the pommel horse in Germany.

Team GB gymnasts have won Olympic Games medals on three previous occasions. In 1908 Walter Tysal picked up a silver in the individual all-around and four years later the men's team picked up bronze at the Stockholm Games. In 1928, in Amsterdam, the British women won team bronze.

"It's absolutely fantastic to win a medal and to do in front of my mum was a proud moment," added Smith.

"I didn't want to wait until 2012, I wanted to show everyone how good I was now.

"And already I'm looking forward to 2012. Me and my coach have a few new moves and routines to work on which will hopefully take me up a notch to gold.

"I shall be training hard for the next four years and will spend tiem training the youngsters as well. We have a lot of tremendous young talent out there.

"But for now I'm going for a good meal and then going out to celebrate - with an orange juice.

"And then when I get back home I'm going on holiday with my mates to Great Yarmouth."

Meet more Olympians: Chief Sports Writer Alan Swann has traced sportsmen and sportswomen who attended the Olympics while living in the Peterborough area.