Olympics gymnastics debutant Brinn Bevan fulfils vow to dying father

For Brinn Bevan, reaching Rio fulfilled a promise he made to his father on his deathbed.

The artistic gymnast, 19, left, who is hoping to bring home a medal after this evening’s team final, said he almost quit while his father was “in and out of hospital” for two years, but made the promise just before he died of myeloma, a cancer, in 2009.

He said: “On his deathbed, I promised I’d try my absolute best in everything I do, that I would go to an Olympic Games and that I would then do my best to win a medal.

"So here I am, at an Olympic Games, and hoping I can also live up to the promise of a medal.”

The teenager, from Benfleet in Essex, trains with Max Whitlock at South Essex Gymnastics club and the pair won silver in the team event at last year’s World Championships.

He was first inspired by the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but said watching Whitlock and others at London four years later cemented his determination to make it in the sport.

His first encounter with gymnastics was at two or three years old, he recalled, adding: “I was a hyperactive child and got into it to waste a bit of energy.”