A FALL in the final event cost Huntingdon gymnast Sam Oldham a medal at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

A FALL in the final event cost Huntingdon gymnast Sam Oldham a medal at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

His slip on the horizontal bars – the sixth and final event in the all-around competition – saw him drop from second to fifth, despite him jumping back on to finish his routine.

Having qualified in second place for the final and won the European all-around title in April, Oldham was heavily tipped to pick up a medal in Wednesday’s final.

The 17-year-old, who trains at Huntingdon Olympic Gym Club, started slowly and was ranked 11th after the floor exercise, but improved outings on the pommel horse, rings, vault and parallel bars promoted him back to second.

He struggled to put his disappointment into words.

“I am not sure what happened on the horizontal bar but I am absolutely devastated,” said Oldham. “I was really nervous at the beginning of the day just because of the scale of the event.

“But I qualified in second and I really wanted to repeat my performance. I really thought I could repeat it or even improve on it.

“I got my way back into it after the floor exercise and got my way back into second position where I qualified, but then I just don’t know what happened on the horizontal bar.”

Oldham has four more finals to come in Singapore including the horizontal bar on Sunday and has vowed to forget his all-around efforts as soon as possible.

“I have got four more events over the weekend now and I need to try and forget what happened and look forward to them now,” he added. “I just need to move on.

“I have got four more chances in the horizontal bar, the parallel bars, pommel horse and floor and hopefully I can come away with a medal.”

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