Louis Smith insists substantial funding is essential if Great Britain are to produce champions in gymnastics at London 2012 and beyond.

The 19-year-old from Peterborough created history in Beijing this summer when he became the nation's first individual Olympic medallist in 100 years by snatching the bronze in a thrilling pommel horse final.

However that stunning success was achieved on the back of training in an over-crowded Huntingdon gym, which is in urgent need of major investment, expansion and better facilities.

Smith reckons there are just a handful of gyms across the country barely adequate of nurturing the stars of tomorrow and admits there doesn't appear to be any sign of improvement despite his heroics in Beijing.

He said: "There haven't been any considerable changes yet and I've heard that British Gymnastics might not be getting any more lottery funding from UK Sport - it will be just redistributed differently but I'm not sure how.

"Here we've got a three-year waiting list of kids and we've already got hundreds of them running around already. We need to raise about £4.5million to extend our gym and build a brand new facility, which will be big enough to cater for more kids coming up.

"We've only got about four or five decent gyms in Britain and quite often they're either being refurbished or things going wrong. We haven't got the best facilities and it's sad when you compare the situation with other sports.

"Look at cycling, they've had so much money pumped into them and they've won so many gold medals. That proves that funding, facilities and great coaching can produce medals so we need the same."

Unfortunately he also feels the lack of money being pumped into his sport means promising youngsters lose interest and pursue other activities.

"It's almost as if no one wants to get involved," he added. "Everyone likes watching gymnastics on TV and it seems to be a popular sport in that respect but I don't see why people don't want to take part.

"It's on the curriculum, everyone does it in schools but apart from that nobody seems to want anything to do with it.

"We would have more Olympic medallists if we had better facilities. How we produced one in the gym that we train in is unbelievable.

"All I can do is hope we get more money."

Smith is now relishing the challenge of trying to promote widespread interest and participation in the sport as he gets to grips with his new-found responsibility as a role model.

He said: "I always want to spread the word to youngsters to get involved at your local club because it's a brilliant sport. As a kid I used to love doing flips and somersaults but now people are doing just a little gym before going off to play football.

"All the kids in my gym I say hello to, give them hi-fives and apparently it makes their day to have met me. Parents come up to me and say thanks and say their kids are really happy. I didn't realise until now how I've become a role model so I try to do even more now for the kids.

"When people come up to me while I'm training I'll ask if I can talk to them afterwards but when I'm outside the gym I'm always find time to sign autographs. It was like that at the British Championships and I'd never say I haven't got time to speak to someone."

Looking to his future, Smith clearly has a burning ambition to top the podium at London 2012 and takes plenty of confidence from his exploits at the Olympics, where he finished behind Xiao Qin of China and Croatia's Filip Ude.

But the pommel horse king, who shot to gymnastics fame in 2006 when capturing gold at the Commonwealth Games before taking bronze at last year's World Championships in Stuttgart, is taking each small step at a time.

"I was happy with the bronze," he said. "As a 19-year-old in my first Olympic Games to walk away with that is incredible.

"It makes me realise that I am up there with the best in the world and I can get a gold if I do the best routine I can. It's a reminder why I have to work really hard in the gym to achieve the ultimate goal.

"I could have got gold this time had my routine gone completely to plan but unfortunately I had a little bit of an error. In London 2012 there will be a lot of pressure with the home crowd but I'll be going for gold.

"My short-term goals are to concentrate on the smaller competitions and Grand Prix events but looking further ahead I have the world championships at the O2 Arena in London next year which I have to focus on.

"After that there'll be Europeans and another World Championships before the ultimate goal of having to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics."

Next year's world showpiece at the O2 Arena will provide the starlet with a perfect platform on which to take his career to the next level and he can't wait to sample a patriotic home atmosphere.

He said: "My hopes for next year's world championships are to win a shinier medal than I got in Beijing and in Stuttgart last year. But my main target is to do a clean routine because if I don't it could cost me the chance of getting any medal. If I can do that I know I'll be on the podium.

"It's always great to compete in front of a home crowd but I think it'll be about 18,000 people at the O2 Arena. It will be enormous pressure obviously but that's why I love competing and I'm sure it will be an amazing experience."

Smith comfortably claimed victory on his favourite apparatus in the recent British Championships but admits it was far from easy given the expectations of the crowd.

Even so, he believes it was the ideal preparation for dealing with the huge pressures which lie in wait.

He said: "The British Championships last week were really nerve wracking because everyone was expecting me to do a clean routine. There was a huge introduction for me with the announcer saying 'here comes Louis Smith the Olympic bronze medallist' and that piled on the nerves but I did it well and won.

"I'm confident in myself that I won't make a mistake in four years. In that environment I'll have to do a clean routine because there's no other way. I'll be a bit shaky but I'm 100% sure that if I'm there competing I'll do a clean routine."

If you've ever wondered why he doesn't try to specialise in another event, Smith has a simple answer.

"I think the pommel will always be my strength because of the way I'm built," he said. "I have long arms and I'm quite tall so other disciplines don't suit me quite as well.

"In the vault you need to be able to run fast so that's not the greatest for a tall person and the rings require more strength. I still train on all of them and hope to be a better all-around gymnast but my medal chances are only ever going to be on the pommel horse."

Outside of his tireless training programme, Smith is even taking part as a judge in EDF Energy's Awards for Greener Schools campaign (www.jointhepod.org) and hopes his involvement can also work to the benefit of gymnastics as well as the planet.

He said: "The awards will celebrate teachers, pupils and schools who have made significant changes to their energy and water use. The top schools will be awarded a cash prize which they can put towards sustainable programmes such as building a wind turbine.

"Being asked to do this for a big company like EDF Energy is a big honour and trying to promote what they do as well as me putting gymnastics in the spotlight is a really good partnership."

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