One of the UK's top gymnasts, Harry Owen from Begelly, brought his participation at his fourth UK School Games to a close with his most noteable successes to date by winning another four medals.

A previous haul of medals from Glasgow (2006), Coventry (2007) and Bristol (2008) had led to him becoming the most decorated sportsman at the Games and at this year's event, held in Wales at Cardiff's Planet Ice, Harry certainly did not disappoint the home crowd.

On the first day of competition, personal best scores on vault (14.5 and 14.6) and another personal best on high bar (12.0) saw the young Welshman leading the all-round competition after two rounds.

A steady performance on parallel bars (13.050) maintained his lead after three of the pieces of apparatus. However, a slightly below par performance on floor (12.5) saw him slip behind top English gymnast Courtney Tulloch after round four.

A fall from the pommel horse when in full flow was a further blow to Harry's medal ambitions, but an excellent middle part to his routine saw him score a respectable (10.35). But the pressure was now really on the 15-year-old from Greenhill School as he slipped to fourth overall with one piece left to perform.

This was make or break for Harry, who had sustained a back injury in the training camp a few days before and had not worked the rings for a few days to protect the injury. This was to be his last UK School Games and there were fears amongst the Welsh coaches (Chris Jones and Pete Haysham) even up to the morning of the event that he might have to pull out of the competition.

Harry's focus, however, was purely on his rings performance and with all the other competitors having finished their apparatus routines, his performance was to be the last of the first day of competition. A routine of true quality and strength followed as he scored another personal best (12.8) to easily take the all-round bronze medal and if it hadn't been for the fall on pommel it might have been gold!

But those string of high scoring personal bests had seen Harry qualify for four finals the following day and the bronze in the overall competition had been an improvement on the previous year's points score in Bristol.

The Welsh crowd were out in force for the finals day at Planet Ice. A magnificent start for Wales on vault saw two more personal best scores (14.75 and 14.70) for Harry as he comfortably won his first UK Games gold medal ahead of the two top English competitors.

More success followed shortly afterwards as a superb rings routine (with a higher start value than the previous day) yielded an excellent score of 13.1 and a silver medal. A watered down routine on parallel bars still yielded a fourth place and a precautionary withdrawal from the final of the high bar which might have yielded another medal made sure that Harry finished the two-day competition extremely pleased, in some pain, but relieved that his final UK Games had been a 'golden' success.

The Wales men's team finished in silver medal position and this meant that Harry's medal tally over the four Games was a record breaking 11 (one gold, eight silver and two bronze) - a record that may never be beaten !

Harry commented after being interviewed for Sky Sports and S4C: "I have been privileged to take part in four UK Games and the hard work over many years has paid off, especially yesterday in the overall competition and today in the rings and vault finals.

"It was good to have the experience of a major Games here in Wales and they have been excellent preparation for my next targets... which are to represent Wales at the World Youth Games and at the Commonwealth Games next year."

Part of Harry's rings routine can be seen on the UK School Games website (ukschoolgames.com) at the end of the three-minute 'wrap up' video on the home page. Find out more about Harry Owen, the gymnast, on his own website - harryowen.com