Max Whitlock delivered a timely reminder that he is ready to end his glittering gymnastics career on a golden high despite the agony of a fourth-place finish in the Olympic men’s team final in Paris.
The double defending pommel champion delivered a top-scoring routine of 15.266 in the opening rotation of the evening, which culminated in Japan edging favourites China for gold after a dramatic high bar finale.
Whitlock’s score was higher than the 15.2 achieved by Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan and Stephen Nedoroscik of the US in qualifying, and re-stated the 31-year-old’s potential to claim an historic third straight gold on the apparatus on Saturday.
“I can take a lot of confidence from that today because that was a big routine - the highest difficulty, the highest risk factor and the highest chance of getting the big score,” said Whitlock.
“I’m pleased with my routine. There’s some errors in there that I can try to clean up, hopefully in time for the pommel final, but I’m happy. There is one routine left to do in my whole career and I’m looking forward to it.”
Whitlock conceded to having mixed emotions after a third straight fourth-place finish in a men’s team final, but ultimately the British quintet lacked the extra level required to muscle in on the top three.
Britain, comprising Joe Fraser, Jake Jarman and debutants Luke Whitehouse and Harry Hepworth in addition to Whitlock, were third at halfway but went into the final rotation four points adrift of the medals and ill-placed to take advantage of an exciting twist.
Grasping for gold, China’s Su Weide fell twice from the high bar, letting in Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto, the reigning champion on the apparatus, to grab gold while the Chinese narrowly held off the US, whose bronze was their first men’s team medal since 2008.
Whitlock contributed relatively modest totals of 13.9 and 13.0 for his parallel bars and high bar routines respectively, his first apparatus other than pommel in an Olympic Arena since Rio 2016, and resolutely his last.
“It was a really nice feeling that I did a successful p-bar and high bar and they will be the last p-bar and high bar routines that I’ll ever do, and that makes me feel quite good.
“That was my first thought after coming off high bar - that’s me done on those pieces.”
Whitlock was part of the last Great Britain men’s team to win a team medal at London 2012, a win that ended a 100-year wait, and has been central to the shift in perception that now makes a fourth-place finish something of a missed opportunity.
“It feels pretty cool to be a part of the group that’s changed it,” added Whitlock. “Over the last 16 years we’ve done a lot and it’s taken a lot of time and I think fourth place for a long time would have been unbelievable.
“We can’t shrug off fourth place, it’s still a high position in the world, and we can take a lot of positivity from it. Right now it feels quite raw but we can feel proud that we did everything we possibly could.”
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