Britain’s most successful gymnast Whitlock to retire after Paris Olympics

Three-time Olympic gold medallist Max Whitlock will retire after the Paris 2024 Games.

The 31-year-old, who has won 32 major international medals, is Britain’s most successful gymnast.

He will become the first gymnast to win four Olympic medals on the same apparatus if he adds to his two golds and a bronze on the pommel horse this summer.

“This decision now feels right,” Whitlock told BBC Breakfast.

“Going for my final Olympic Games, it feels very, very strange talking about it and it’s almost hard to articulate what it’s like.

“It’s a really nice mindset to be in, to think I’ll just give it all I’ve got.”

Whitlock’s Olympic journey started at London 2012, where he claimed bronze in the pommel horse and helped Great Britain finish third in the team event.

At Rio 2016 he won bronze for Britain’s first medal in the all-around event for 108 years, and became the nation’s first individual Olympic gold medallist in artistic gymnastics with victory in the floor and pommel horse events.

After retaining his pommel horse title at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Whitlock took an 18-month break from the sport to deal with mental health struggles.

His other honours include three World Championship golds, four European Championship titles and four Commonwealth Games golds.

“Ever since Rio where I was at my peak age, I think I’ve had questions thrown at me about when am I retiring,” Whitlock said.

“I’ve wanted to prove people wrong a lot of the way through my journey and I’ve always had the mindset of trying to do this for as long as I possibly can.”

Whitlock says his motivation for Paris 2024 comes from wanting his daughter Willow, who was born in February 2019, to watch him compete at an Olympics.

After no international fans were allowed in Tokyo in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Whitlock is looking forward to seeing Willow in the crowd.

“Now I’ve given myself the opportunity for Willow to come and watch an Olympic Games because she couldn’t in Tokyo. That’s such a good feeling for me,” he said.

“When I’m in arenas competing, Willow waits for it to go quiet and she calls for me and we do this double thumbs-up, I think I’d love to do that in the Paris Olympics.”

This year’s Olympics take place between 26 July and 11 August.

Whitlock will be in action at the European Championships in Italy at the end of April before the British Olympic gymnastics squad is announced in June.