- British gymnast Max Whitlock has announced that the Paris Games will be his last
- The 31-year-old said it seemed like the “right” decision to end his brilliant career.
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Three-time Olympic champion Max Whitlock has announced he will retire after this summer’s Games.
The 31-year-old gymnast will go for gold on the pommel horse in Paris, where he could become the first gymnast to win four Olympic medals on the same apparatus.
This, however, will now be the final act of a brilliant career that has already netted him 32 major international medals, including six at the Olympic Games, comfortably making him the most successful British gymnast of all time.
“This decision now seems right,” Whitlock said. “Going to my last Olympics, it feels very, very strange to talk about it and it’s almost difficult to articulate what it’s like. But it’s a really nice mentality, thinking I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”
Whitlock made her Olympic debut at London 2012, winning bronze in the pommel horse and team event. At Rio 2016, he became Great Britain’s first individual Olympic champion when he won gold on both floor and pommel, and then also took a bronze in the all-around event.
British gymnast Max Whitlock announced that he will retire after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 31-year-old is a three-time Olympic champion and Britain’s most decorated gymnast.
Whitlock will go for gold again in Paris, seeking to become the first gymnast to win four Olympic medals on the same apparatus.
The South Essex athlete retained his pommel horse title at Tokyo 2020 before taking an 18-month break from the sport to focus on his mental health.
Having then contemplated retirement, Whitlock returned to gymnastics early last year.
He will compete at the European Championships in Italy at the end of the month, before Great Britain selects its team for Paris in June.
Whitlock, who has a five-year-old daughter, Willow, told the BBC: “Since Rio, where I was at my prime, I think I’ve been asked when I’m going to retire.”
Whitlock, who has a five-year-old daughter, said she felt she had proven people wrong in her career.
“I’ve wanted to prove people wrong for much of my journey and I’ve always had the mindset of trying to do that for as long as possible.
‘Now I have given myself the opportunity for Willow to come and see the Olympic Games because she couldn’t in Tokyo. It’s such a good feeling for me.
‘When I’m competing in arenas, Willow waits for everything to calm down and calls me and we give a thumbs up twice. “I think I would love to do that at the Paris Olympics.”