Louis Smith may be a talented gymnast but it seems he is something of a singer too and back in 2009 we reported that he had tried out for The X Factor.

The 23 year old is competing in the London 2012 Olympics at the minute but has opened up about his experiences on the ITV show, where he made it through to the televised judges auditions.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Louis confessed that he could have followed a musical career after being offered a prestigious scholarship when he was young, but he chose to stick with sport instead.

he said:

“It was a bit of fun. I had to make a decision when I was 8, and got offered a scholarship in singing either to do that full-time or carry on with gym. I chose gym.”

Lucky that he did, as Louis walked away with a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and is also a 2-time European Silver medallist and Commonwealth Games Champion. More recently, Smith was part of the GB men’s team at the London Olympics. They won a bronze medal at the team event on 30th July 2012, the first GB men’s team medal for 100 years.

However, Louis really does have a love of performing and it was this that drew him to the reality TV route. Speaking to The Sun he confessed that he’s always loved to show off and explained:

“I have always been a bit out there — I like to perform. My mum tells me all kinds of funny stories from when I was younger. Once, when I was 5 years old, they had this soft music playing in the doctor’s surgery where all these old people were waiting.

“All of a sudden this Michael Jackson song came on, I got up and did the Michael Jackson dance — and all the old people started clapping. And I was like ‘Oh, do you want me to do it again?’ I suppose that shows I’ve always been a showman.”

Back in 2009 the judges weren’t overly impressed by Smith though and it’s claimed that Simon Cowell told him to ‘stick to his day job’ and refused him a place in bootcamp.

Lucky he had the gymnastics to fall back on then eh?