Throwing himself across the mat, first into a twisting double somersault, then into his signature air-flare, he made it look almost effortless. But on Sunday night in Rio, 23-year-old Max Whitlock made sporting history.
His victories, first for his gymnastics floor routine and then, two hours later, in men’s pommel horse, make him the first British male gymnast to win both events at the Olympics – and the first British athlete in 44 years to win two Olympic gold medals in one day.
“I’m really, really speechless. I feel complete, I think?” he said, adding “I’ve completely outdone myself.”
His medal collection, which also includes two bronze medals at the 2012 London Olympics and another gold for pommel horse at the World Championships in Glasgow in 2015, establishes him as Britain’s greatest ever gymnast. And according to those around him, it is both skill but also 12-years of pure dedication that have got Whitlock to this career pinnacle.
Raised in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, it was initially swimming that peaked his interest at the age of seven, and he was already a competitive swimmer before giving it up at 11 to concentrate on gymnastics.
Klemen Bedenik, who was Whitlock’s first coach, recalled the focus that drove the young athlete to dedicate all his time to training, even back then. Bedenik told the Daily Telegraph: “Even at 12, Max was doing hard routines on the pommel. It can be difficult to coach – it’s a boring apparatus to practise because it takes so many repetitions – but I could say, ‘Do 600 circles, now do 500 circles’ and he never had a problem with that.”
Whitlock’s loyalty to both gymnastics and his coach also meant that at 11, when Bedenik moved back to Slovenia, Whitlock convinced his parents to let him go with the Slovenian to continue training. For three months he lived and went to school in the small town of Maribor and did his gymnastic training in the afternoons.
But after three months, Whitlock’s parents could not bear the separation and brought him back on the agreement he could spent at least three hours a day training at South Essex gym, two hours from the family home. That turned out to be a career-defining move. It was there he met Scott Hann, who 11 years on is still his coach, and it is where Whitlock still trains every day.
It was at the gym that he also first crossed the path of Verity Adams. The head coach of rhythmic gymnastics at South Essex Gym remembers meeting 12-year-old Whitlock, and says that in the decade she has know him his dedication to the sport has not wobbled once.
Adams told the Guardian: “Straight away when he was younger everybody recognised he was a real talent and he was a fun little guy to have around. He was always hard working, had his head down and dedicated from the beginning, and loved kicking a ball around a gym. When he’s not training he’s generally kicking a ball around.”
Adams said that while Whitlock was always a “solid all rounder”, he always had a flair for the pommel horse. She described him as a very calming and laid back character who did not seem to get nervous before competitions and was known for being the hardest-working person in the gym.
Whitlock’s feet have also become a topic of national conversation, after it emerged that he had initially been told he had the “wrong feet” to be a successful gymnast. But, after his Olympic gold win on Sunday, Hann said: “Because he has feet that bend the other way, it actually helps him land his dismounts.”
Adams said Whitlock’s feet were often a subject of joking conversation in the gym. “Yeah he has got horrible feet but it’s not ever stopped him from winning medals,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t think they’re that bad. We do laugh and joke and go ‘look at his feet’ but he’s done well out of them.”
Hann recalls how Whitlock’s two bronzes at the London Games spurred the gymnast on. “I asked if he wanted to be just a pommel horse specialist,” Hann told the BBC. “He said, ‘I want to be an all-around gymnast and I want to be one of the world’s greatest. I don’t want to be a flash in the pan.’”
Whitlock keeps himself to a disciplined schedule. He usually trains six days a week for at least seven hours a day (his favoured gym listening is Drake, Odd Future and Wiz Khalifa) and wakes up every morning to a breakfast of scrambled eggs, and a slice of toast with ham and mushrooms.
His personal life is also inevitably entwined in gymnastics. He met his fiancee, Leah Hickton, at a gym club when they were both 14. Hickton, who is Hann’s sister is women’s head coach at South Essex gym. Rather than opting for the lifestyle of GB teammate Louis Smith, who is regularly spotted in Ibzia, Whitlock says he likes to keep his life quiet. “I love going for roasts, spending time with my girlfriend and drawing trainers,” he said
Whitlock had a brief scare in 2014 after contracting glandular fever, which kept him away from training for more than a month. He later described the illness as just another motivation and went on to win gold at the World Championships in Glasgow last November.
If Whitlock has anything to do with it, Rio will just be the beginning of his own sporting legacy. “I want to go to a number of Olympic Games and go on as long as I can,” he said. “To be called a legend in any sport is an unbelievable achievement. I’d love to achieve that.”
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