Max Whitlock

Max Whitlock
OBE
Whitlock in 2012
Personal information
Full nameMax Antony Whitlock
Nickname(s)Maxi
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Born (1993-01-13) 13 January 1993 (age 31)
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
SpouseLeah Hickton (m. 2017)
Height167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
ClubSouth Essex Gymnastics Club
Head coach(es)Scott Hann
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 3 0 3
World Championships 3 5 0
European Championships 4 3 1
World Cup 1 0 0
Commonwealth Games 4 4 2
Total 15 12 6
Representing  Great Britain
Men's artistic gymnastics
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Pommel horse
Gold medal – first place 2020 Tokyo Pommel horse
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Team
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Pommel horse
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Rio de Janeiro All-around
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow Pommel horse
Gold medal – first place 2017 Montreal Pommel horse
Gold medal – first place 2019 Stuttgart Pommel horse
Silver medal – second place 2013 Antwerp Pommel horse
Silver medal – second place 2014 Nanning All-around
Silver medal – second place 2015 Glasgow Team
Silver medal – second place 2015 Glasgow Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 2018 Doha Pommel horse
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Montpellier Team
Gold medal – first place 2013 Moscow Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 2014 Sofia Pommel horse
Gold medal – first place 2019 Szczecin Pommel horse
Silver medal – second place 2013 Moscow All-around
Silver medal – second place 2014 Sofia Team
Silver medal – second place 2018 Glasgow Team
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Moscow Pommel horse
FIG World Cup
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
All-Around World Cup 1 0 0
Appartus World Cup 0 1 0
World Challenge Cup 0 1 1
Total 1 2 1
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Team
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow All-around
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Floor exercise
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Team
Silver medal – second place 2010 Delhi Team
Silver medal – second place 2010 Delhi Pommel horse
Silver medal – second place 2014 Glasgow Pommel horse
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast Pommel horse
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Delhi Horizontal bar
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Glasgow Parallel bars
AwardsLongines Prize for Elegance (2015)

Max Antony Whitlock OBE (born 13 January 1993) is a British artistic gymnast. With fourteen medals and six titles in Olympic and World Championships, Whitlock is the most successful gymnast in his nation's history. He is also the most successful pommel horse worker in Olympic Games history, with two gold medals and one bronze.

Whitlock is a six-time Olympic medalist (all-around, team, floor exercise and three times on his signature piece, pommel horse), winning three golds and three bronzes, and a five-time world medalist on the pommel horse with three gold and two silvers. He became Great Britain's first-ever Olympic gold medalist in artistic gymnastics when he won both the floor exercise and pommel horse at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is a four-time European champion and a four-time Commonwealth Games champion representing England.

Early life

Whitlock was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, on 13 January 1993. He was introduced to gymnastics by a friend from a swimming club when he was seven and joined the Sapphire School of Gymnastics in Hemel Hempstead. When he was twelve, his coach Klemen Bedenik returned to Slovenia, and Whitlock followed him to Maribor to continue training. He returned three months later and joined South Essex Gymnastics Club in Basildon, where he is currently coached by his brother-in-law Scott Hann. Whitlock's wife, Leah, has also worked as a coach at the club. He attended Longdean School in Hemel Hempstead.

Career

2010–11

Whitlock won gold on pommel horse and floor exercise and silver in the all-around at the 2010 Junior European Championships held in Birmingham. In October, he was part of the team that won the silver medal for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He also won the silver medal on the pommel horse and a bronze medal on the horizontal bar.

Whitlock was an alternate for the British men's team at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo.

2012

Whitlock was selected for the British team that competed at the Olympic Test Event, the final opportunity to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games. The British team won the event and qualified as a team for the Olympic Games for the first time since 1992. He won the silver medal in the pommel horse final behind teammate Louis Smith. In March, he won the bronze medal on the pommel horse at the Cottbus World Challenge Cup. He competed with the British team that won the gold medal at the European Championships. This was the first time the British men's team had won team gold at a major championship. Individually, Whitlock qualified for the pommel horse final, where he finished in sixth place.

Whitlock represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London alongside Smith, Sam Oldham, Daniel Purvis, and Kristian Thomas. The team initially finished second in the team final, but the Japanese team submitted an inquiry that raised their score, so the British team received the bronze medal. This was the first time the British men's team had won an Olympic medal since 1912. He also won the bronze medal in the pommel horse event final behind Hungary's Krisztián Berki and teammate Smith.

2013

Whitlock began the season at the Internationaux de France where he won the silver medal on the pommel horse behind Olympic champion Krisztián Berki. He then competed at the European Championships in Moscow. In the all-around final, he won the silver medal behind David Belyavskiy. He then won Great Britain's first European floor title by tying with Israel's Alexander Shatilov. Then in the pommel horse final, he won the bronze medal. At the Anadia World Challenge Cup, he was upset in the pommel horse final by Colombia's Jhonny Perez. At the World Championships, Whitlock finished fourth in the all-around final, only 0.300 behind the bronze medalist. Then in the pommel horse final, he tied for the silver medal with Mexico's Daniel Corral.

2014

At the European Championships in Sofia, Whitlock and his Great Britain teammates won the team silver medal behind Russia. In event finals, he won the gold medal in pommel horse ahead of the defending Olympic champion Krisztián Berki. He also finished fifth in the floor exercise final. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Whitlock and his England teammates won the team gold. In the all-around final, Whitlock won the gold medal with a score of 90.631 points. Whitlock won his third gold in the floor exercise final. He took silver in the pommel horse final and bronze in the parallel bars final.

Whitlock was chosen to compete for Great Britain at World Championships in Nanning, China. During the qualification round, he had a fall on the floor exercise and costly errors on the pommel horse. He did not qualify for any of the individual finals, including the all-around due to the two-per-country rule as he finished behind teammates Daniel Purvis and Nile Wilson. In the team final, he helped the British team finish fourth which was at the time Great Britain's best-ever team finish at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. After the team competition, Wilson pulled out of the all-around competition due to a wrist injury, allowing Whitlock to replace him in the final. He won the silver medal with a score of 90.473, just under a point and a half behind defending Olympic all-around champion Kohei Uchimura.

2015

Due to illness, Whitlock only competed on pommel horse at the British Championships, where he won the silver medal behind Louis Smith. After the competition, Whitlock was found to have been suffering from glandular fever. Despite this, Whitlock was chosen to compete at the European Championships, but he only competed on the floor and pommel horse. However, he did not qualify for any event finals. After the European Championships, his coach announced Whitlock would take a break from training to recover. In May, Whitlock announced on his Twitter he had returned to training.

Whitlock competed with the British men's team at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. After some minor mistakes in the qualification rounds, he tied for a place in the final with teammate Nile Wilson, but with the tiebreaker rules applied, Whitlock won the place in the individual all-around final. The men's team, which included Kristian Thomas, Daniel Purvis, Louis Smith, Brinn Bevan, Nile Wilson and alternate James Hall, became the first British men's team to win a medal in the at a World Championships, winning silver behind Japan. During the all-around final, Whitlock finished fifth after falling off the horizontal bar. He won the silver medal on the floor exercise behind Kenzo Shirai. Then in the pommel horse final, he became the first British man ever to win a World Championship gold medal, by 0.100 over teammate Smith.

2016

Whitlock competed at the Glasgow World Cup and won the all-around with a total score of 89.299. He had the highest scores of the competition on floor and pommel horse, and he came second on vault and high bar. In May, Whitlock withdrew from the European Championships due to a virus.

On 12 July 2016, Whitlock was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Olympics, along with Louis Smith, Nile Wilson, Kristian Thomas and Brinn Bevan. The British team finished fourth in the team final. He won a bronze medal in the all-around final, Great Britain's first medal in this Olympic event for 108 years. He later went on to win the gold in the floor exercise, becoming the first British gymnast to win an individual Olympic gold medal. Within two hours, he won a second gold in the pommel horse. He took three months off from training after the Olympic Games.

2017

In March, Whitlock announced that he would take six months off from competition, missing the London World Cup and the European Championships. He returned to competition at the World Championships but only competed on the pommel horse and floor exercise. Although he fell on the floor exercise during the qualification round, he qualified for the pommel horse final. He became the first British gymnast to successfully defend a World title when he won the pommel horse final.

2018

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Whitlock was part of the team that won gold in the team event. However, he failed to defend his individual titles in the Games; he sat out the individual all-around competition, finished sixth on the floor, and won silver on the pommel horse behind Rhys McClenaghan. At the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Whitlock won a silver as part of the British team. However, an error in his routine on the pommel horse caused him to finish seventh in the event final. At the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Whitlock was a member of the British team that finished fifth. He failed to win a third consecutive pommel gold at the World Championship, despite receiving the same score of 15.166 as the winner Xiao Ruoteng. He lost the tiebreaker and finished in second place due to a lower execution mark.

2019

After failing to win gold at the European Championships in 2018, Whitlock regained his gold on pommel horse at the 2019 European Championships held in Szczecin, Poland. At the World Championships in Stuttgart, Whitlock fell on the pommel horse during the team final where the British team finished fifth. In the event finals, he recovered from an early mistake to win his third World gold on the pommel horse.

2021

Whitlock returned to competition at the European Championships, his first competition in 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he fell off the pommel horse during the qualification round and missed the final. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Whitlock competed for Great Britain alongside Joe Fraser, James Hall, and Giarnni Regini-Moran. The team took fourth place with a score of 255.76. Whitlock opted not to defend the floor exercise title, concentrating instead on the pommel horse. He went on to win the Olympic gold medal on the pommel horse with a score of 15.583.

2022–23

Whitlock took over one year off from training after the Olympic Games and did not compete at the 2022 Commonwealth Games or the 2022 World Championships. He was scheduled to return to competition at the 2023 European Championships, but he had to withdraw due to an injury. He was selected for the 2023 World Championships team alongside Jake Jarman, James Hall, Harry Hepworth and Courtney Tulloch. The team finished fourth in the team final. During the pommel horse final, Whitlock fell and finished fifth.

Awards and honours

Whitlock finished seventh in the public vote for the 2014 and 2016 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, and he finished eighth in 2015. He received the Longines Prize for Elegance at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Whitlock was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to gymnastics and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours, also for services to gymnastics.

In February 2021, Whitlock was announced as an ambassador for the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, England.

Personal life

Whitlock married Leah Hickton in July 2017. The following year, they set up the Max Whitlock Gymnastics Club with locations in Colchester and Southend. Their first child, a daughter named Willow, was born in February 2019.

In January 2020, Whitlock's book The Whitlock Workout: Get Fit and Healthy in Minutes was published by Headline.

Competitive history

Year Event Team AA FX PH SR VT PB HB
Junior
2010
Junior European Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6
Senior
2010
Commonwealth Games 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 4 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2012 Olympic Test Event 1st place, gold medalist(s) 23 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Cottbus World Challenge Cup 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
European Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6
Olympic Games 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2013 Internationaux de France 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
European Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Anadia World Challenge Cup 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
World Championships 4 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2014
European Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Commonwealth Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
World Championships 4 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2015 British Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
World Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2016 Glasgow World Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Olympic Games 4 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2017
World Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018
Commonwealth Games 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
European Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7
World Championships 5 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2019
European Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
World Championships 5 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2021
Olympic Games 4 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2023
World Championships 4 5

This page was last updated at 2024-03-26 11:58 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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