Six-time Olympic medalist Max Whitlock has been diligently researching online to confirm that he is indeed aiming for a record at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics this summer.
The 31-year-old gymnastic star has even told his friends to help verify that he can become the first gymnast to win medals on the same apparatus at four consecutive Olympics. If he adds to his two golds and one bronze on the pommel horse, he will achieve this milestone.
“I do try hard not to think about medals but it does get increasingly difficult,” Whitlock told BBC Sport on Thursday. “I would love to tick that kind of history box. I just think it’s mad that no gymnast has ever done it. I was searching through Wikipedia and typing all these things in trying to find this history and just making sure that it’s right.
“That’s a real push for me. You can see my smile getting wider. I think it’s exciting.” Joining him in the five-man team are world vault champion Jake Jarman, former world parallel bars champion Joe Fraser, double European floor champion Luke Whitehouse, and 20-year-old double European champion Harry Hepworth.
However, Courtney Tulloch, a former world bronze medallist on rings, and James Hall, who competed at Tokyo 2020 where the team finished fourth, did not make the cut. The women’s team, aiming for more success after their surprise bronze in Tokyo, includes Alice Kinsella, Becky Downie, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Abigail Martin, and Ruby Evans.
Despite being depleted by injuries to the Gadirova twins, Jessica and Jennifer, as well as British champion Ondine Achampong, the women’s team remains the same as the one that secured silver at last month’s European Championships. Whitlock, who plans to retire after these Olympics, is approaching the Games with a new mindset, stating that he has overcome the once “overwhelming” pressure of expectations.
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As Britain’s most successful gymnast, Whitlock took an 18-month hiatus from the sport to address mental health challenges following the Tokyo Games. He chose to return to competition, believing that ending his career at that point would have felt like “quitting” rather than “retiring.”
“I feel like I’m almost a refreshed version of myself, almost a younger version of myself,” he said. “(One) that’s kind of excited to take on challenges rather than fearing the overwhelming expectations from those challenges. So back to the mindset I had when I was young, before the kind of pressure got to a level where sometimes I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. So I’m going to give my best shot, and that’s all I can do.”