A three-year-old could do the splits in the lounge room. Now he's in Paris

Maybe that three-year-old kid was destined to end up here.

The 21-year-old gymnast admits the prospect of his Olympic Games debut still doesn't quite feel real, even when he unpacks his bags in the village or casts his eye around the Bercy Arena.

Thirteen gymnasts - the most in Australia's Olympic history - are chasing the country's first medal in the sport since Ji Wallace's silver in Sydney, competing in artistic, trampoline and rhythmic disciplines. Moore is Australia's sole representative in the men's artistic competition.

So, how is he feeling?

"Definitely, at the moment, more excited than nervous," Moore said. "I'm sure that will probably flip."

Just as Moore will on the horizontal bar - just one of the events on a men's program including the floor exercise, parallel bars, pommel horse, vault and still rings, where athletes lift themselves into gravity-defying positions in search of a gold medal.

Some change from doing the splits in his family's South Australia home as a kid, which in turn led to Moore's enrolment in a KinderGym program and a rise through the state's high performance pathways.

Four consecutive all-around age titles at the national championships from 2015 to 2018 led Moore to realise gymnastics could be his future.

Moore moved to Canberra to chase his dream three years ago - but he laughs it was some reality check given his parents used to take care of everything for him. The toughest part about leaving home might not have even been the new intense training regime - it was more likely learning how to cook.

At 19, Moore was the youngest member of the Australian artistic gymnastics team at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, where he was sixth in pommel horse despite a labral tear in his shoulder.

The road back was a grind. Moore underwent surgery on his shoulder and was wrapped in a brace resembling a strait jacket to allow the injury to heal properly.

Yet Moore didn't miss a beat in his comeback, eventually securing his place at the Paris Olympics with an all-around win in the artistic gymnastics Oceania continental championships in Auckland in May.

In between it all, Moore is an exercise physiology student at the University of Canberra.

"Training 27 to 30 hours per week, it's pretty full on," Moore said.

"There's not enough time to earn money out of that, so to have the backing of the Eldon and Anne Foote scholarship program, I'm very grateful."

So, has he thought of coming back to campus next semester with an Olympic medal around his neck?

"I'll take it step by step," Moore grinned.