LOUIS SMITH has embraced the opportunities afforded with gusto and relish on the side. Three Olympic medals – one silver, two bronzes – have unlocked doors previously bolted shut to British gymnasts, with gigs dished out as a sandwich pitchman and reality show judge combined, of course, with his waltz to victory on Strictly Come Dancing.

Simply business, the 26-year-old declares. “I’m grafting off my own back to help pay for all the bills. I’d love to be selfish and just focus on gym. I sometimes get to a point where I’m stressed and that’s all I want to do. But I can’t function. I need the balance to keep that other work along side my training.”

Since a post-Olympic hiatus, Smith has combined both channels seamlessly, including a double Commonwealth gold in Glasgow last summer. But with the World Gymnastics Championships, which start on Friday, returning to the city, the Englishman has the opportunity to chase a title that has previously eluded his grasp. And to vindicate his decision to suppress the temptation to retire three years ago when silver on the pommel horse at London 2012 raised the bar to improbable heights.

“I don’t want to look back at my life and think: ‘I could have gone to Rio, I could have gone to the worlds'. Everyone’s lives are full of ifs and buts,” he confirms. “The amount of people I meet down the pub who say: ‘I could have been a footballer but I started smoking,' or 'I got a knee injury'.

“I hear so many could-haves. When I’m an old man drinking cider down the pub, I want to be talking to a young lad and say: ‘I thought about stopping but I didn’t and I went and smashed it'.”

Home support, Smith hopes, will again be a crutch, not a burden. It is vital the British team, in both the team and individual contests, utilises patriotic fervour as inspiration in a way that provides a marginal lift. “We felt that in London and again in Glasgow last year,” he adds. “There’s a snowball effect and the other countries start going down, which is brilliant.”