Smith, a bronze medallist on the pommel horse at the Beijing Games four years ago, admits winning will not be everything in Montpellier, but says it will be a chance to gain some kind of advantage on his rivals.

He said of the continental event: ''I'm not looking to go there and win. Obviously the main goal is the Olympic Games.

''I want to go there, try out my new routine, poke a few competitors, and try to get a few of them nerve-wracking. It's all good preparation for the Olympics.''

Harmony

Smith has actually yet to nail down his place in the GB team with five athletes to be selected from a pool of 13 and he expects some "name-calling" to take place among the squad before it is whittled down.

Smith added: ''The spirit is good, everyone gets on well. Everyone's training a lot more in harmony now. We all get together a lot more. As a team we gel a lot better.

''But we've got 13 boys all competing for a team which holds five people. Closer to the time there's going to be a lot of feelings flying around and name-calling and there's going to be a lot of grittiness going to go down but everyone gets on well.''

Smith recently suffered a fractured finger but put that to one side to finish second at a World Cup event in China.