The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and Opinions
Great Britain’s Max Whitlock is a double-Olympic champion after winning gold in both Floor and Pommel horse finals.
By winning the floor final, Max became the first British gymnast to win an individual gold. The Brit also broke history by winning two individual golds on the same day… all within an hour.
Silver on Pommel Horse went to fellow British athlete Louis Smith, who also won silver during London 2012.
The evening started out well for Whitlock. Having qualified fifth, the Brit had hoped to medal for Floor, but tough competition from the likes of Kenzo Shirai – world champion – and the Americans, it was meant to be a tough battle for the Brit.
Starting first on floor, the 23-year-old had to watch on, hoping that his ranking would stay in the top three. With mistakes from his competitors, Max was still in the lead with two gymnasts to go, cementing that he had indeed won a medal. It was just a question on what colour.
The pressure of the Olympics got to his competitors and saw the Brit stay in the top spot, claiming gold.
Brazil also had a wonderful floor final. An emotional Diego Hypolito, who has not medalled at a world championships since 2014, claimed silver. Fellow countryman Arthur Mariano took bronze.
For Max Whitlock, not much celebration could happen after receiving his gold, as the Brit had to compete in his pommel final in less than one hour.
Unlike the floor final, Whitlock came into the pommel final with expectation. The pommel horse is undoubtedly his best piece, having won gold at the world championships.
Having to wait until second to last to put in his pommel performance, Whitlock watched fellow Brit Louis Smith, score a 15.833. This put Smith in the lead, setting the benchmark for the new Olympic champion to beat.
With the highest difficulty score of 7.200, Whitlock’s performance was what he needed to claim the gold. Despite small mistakes, he still managed to score 15.966, putting him in gold medal position.
For the British men’s gymnastic, their final shot at a medal will be from Nile Wilson who goes into the high bar final on Tuesday.
