"I just can't believe it happened on this day. I always felt like it was going to happen but I wasn't sure when.
"Everybody at home, see this as an example: find a dream that you love, chase it and enjoy that journey.
"I could tell you if I fell on my bum today, I still would have loved this journey, every second of it and today I'm walking away with an Olympic gold medal."
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Cool and composed, he said he knew he had performed as soon as he dismounted.
"After the routine, I was happy, I wasn't thinking about medals," he said.
"When the score came up, I was proud of that score because it's mine.
"I wasn't thinking about the podium at all. I was just thinking I've done my job and I feel like that's where the main emotions came from today.
"I knew I can contest for it anytime I do a clean routine, it's contesting for that top spot.
"I knew that this would also be the toughest pommel horse final of all time, and it was so to come out on top was incredible."
There was disappointment for Max Whitlock of Great Britain, who went into these Games as the double defending champion on pommel horse after historic triumphs in Rio and Tokyo, as well as a bronze medal back in London.
But the 31-year-old, who will retire after these Games, lost momentum towards the end of his routine and was only able to score 15.200.
That left him in fourth place, 0.333 points behind two-time world champion McClenaghan, who put the disappointment of missing out on a medal in Tokyo firmly behind him with a brilliant performance.
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