Gold medal hero Rhys McClenaghan on his sure-sighted mentality
He is part of a wave of successful new Olympians who are different, who were unabashed in their belief that they could perform on the greatest stage - and had no problem telling the world that
Rhys McClenaghan doesn't know any other way.
McClenaghan is standing in the shade of the mixed zone at the Place du Trocadero, moments after participating in the parade of medal winners at the Champions Park.
He had that Olympic gold medal around neck for company and with 15,000 people braving the early evening heat to applaud the gymnast.
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He is part of a wave of successful new Olympians who are different, who were unabashed in their belief that they could perform on the greatest stage - and had no problem telling the world that.
"Of course I'm not shying away from what my goals were," McClenaghan stated. "I said I wanted to be the best in the world, to become an Olympic champion."
A record flurry of medals for Team Ireland has captured the imagination of those roaring them on in Paris and back home.
But so too did the straight-talking, can-do attitude of this new generation of Olympians. They took over the Games in their own way and helped to raise Ireland to a record high.
The older guard had their own ways of getting it done. Paul O'Donovan tried to pull the old underdogs card but just got everyone laughing at the idea of it as he became Ireland's greatest ever Olympian.
Five days later, The Kellie Harrington Show had a happy ever after ending after she expressed the desire just to be happy in her work and to finish her career on a high.
For Ireland's first-time gold medal winners, however, success had been planned out over a long period of time. McClenaghan and Daniel Wiffen were not shy during this Olympic cycle about the sky-high ambitions they had.
For McClenaghan, who won pommel horse gold last Saturday, there was actually no other option but to say out loud what he intended to achieve.
"But if I didn't do that, like, why wouldn't I have done that," said the 25-year-old. "Obviously I'm standing here with a medal and saying that, but back then I was perplexed when people said, 'Oh, you're actually saying your goals'.
"Hell yeah, I'm saying my goals. I'm making them as clear as possible so that if something goes wrong and is veering off the pathway of achieving that goal, I know exactly, 'OK, this is not in line with this goal here'.
"But the mistake a lot of people make is making their goals all foggy and it takes away that responsibility you have to try to achieve that - and that's when you veer off course and don't even realise it.
"So I say openly what I want to achieve, I aim for it and it doesn't go swimmingly smooth - obviously, Tokyo was an example. But we can veer back onto that course and continue to aim for that goal."
Wiffen thinks similarly. So, too, Rhasidat Adeleke, who declared after winning her 400m heat on Monday that she was in Paris to do something special.
Their thinking is, why be afraid to state your goals when you have the belief and confidence that you can achieve them?
It is a mindset that comes naturally to athletes of this generation and yet it is pretty alien to Irish sports fans who are used to their heroes talking in clichés, platitudes and parroting coach-speak - or, in plenty of cases, not talking to the media at all.
McClenaghan puts this tell it like it is approach down to having watched loads of athletes give interviews and gaining an understanding of what makes them tick.
"It's just that I pick and choose from other athletes, not how they speak or how they present themselves but how their mind works, it's what you seem almost behind their eyes that is what's interesting to me," he explained.
"It's not the bravado that impresses me, it's what they genuinely believe.
"That's what I try to take away from any interviews - and I hope that athletes give genuine interviews and they're not fooling people, but I think we can all tell when someone is putting up a front."
Jack Woolley, Ireland's first and so far only taekwondo Olympian, spoke of enjoying the moment he became a two-time Olympian at the Grand Palais on Wednesday.
Woolley lost both of his contests but left the breathtaking venue with his head held high. It had been a very tough Olympic cycle for him, as it had been for Harrington, for McClenaghan and for many others.
Away from the glamour of competing on the biggest stage there were dark days. But McClenaghan made the decision to enjoy the path to Paris, all of it.
"Well it's like you're going for that goal anyway, why not enjoy that journey to it," he reasoned. "I mean, it's not going from point A to point B that would be that goal, it's your entire life between that as well.
"So you've got to not have tunnel vision your entire life to this one goal because all of a sudden you're 25 and you've accomplished that goal, then it would be, 'OK, well I didn't actually enjoy the journey'.
"But I'm glad that I came to terms with that and recognised the importance of enjoying the journey and enjoying life in general along the way."
It is an attitude that gymnastics superstar Simone Biles embraced after she exited the Tokyo stage, the pressure of performing under such a harsh spotlight affecting her mental health.
He has observed a change across gymnastics in that regard, but points to the different approaches that make Olympic sport such a rich tapestry.
"I know different things allow me to be successful, but other people have their own strategies and that's the joy of watching different athletes, they have different characters and their own methods of doing things," he said.
"With more athletes that are being successful in that way, people back home can pick their own inspirational characters that they resonate with most.
"So the more the merrier in terms of medals, obviously. But that's a benefit of it, that you can see the different strategies people use to get that medal.
"Like I said straight away after the competition, I want as many people to touch this medal as possible.
"I've seen it in the last couple of days, people's eyes just light up and it almost shocks me, 'whoah, it means a lot to them too, it's not just me'. So it's a powerful thing around my neck."
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