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Max Whitlock

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Max Whitlock
Whitlock in 2012
Personal information
Nickname(s)Maxi
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Born (1993-01-13) 13 January 1993 (age 31)
Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England
HometownHemel Hempstead
Height167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight56 kg (123 lb)
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
ClubSouth Essex
Head coach(es)Scott Hann
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Artistic Gymnastics
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Team
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Pommel Horse
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Glasgow 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
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
Silver medal – second place 2013 Moscow All-Around
Silver medal – second place 2014 Sofia Team
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Moscow Pommel Horse
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
Silver medal – second place 2010 Delhi Team
Silver medal – second place 2010 Delhi Pommel Horse
Silver medal – second place 2014 Glasgow Pommel Horse
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Delhi Horizontal Bar
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Glasgow Parallel Bars

Max Antony Whitlock[1] (born 13 January 1993) is an English gymnast competing for Great Britain at World, Olympic and European level, and for England at the Commonwealth Games.

In 2012, he was part of the first British men's gymnastics team to win the European Championships and the first British men's team to win a medal at an Olympic games in 100 years. In 2014, he was part of the English team to win that competition at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Individually, Whitlock won the bronze medal at pommel horse at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the silver on the apparatus at the 2013 World Championships. He has been European champion on both floor and pommel horse, and won the floor and all-around individual title at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In 2014, Whitlock won the silver medal in the all-around competition at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, matching Daniel Keatings for the best performance in a World all-around competition by a British gymnast.

At the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, Whitlock became the first British man ever to win a World Championship gold medal, with a score of 16.133 on the pommel horse.

Senior career

In October 2010 he was part of the team which won the silver medal for England in the gymnastics in the men's artistic all-around team event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.[2] He also won the silver medal in the men's pommel horse and a bronze medal in the men's horizontal bar at the same games.[3][4]

He was an alternate for the British men's team at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

In 2012, he helped the British men's team qualify to the 2012 Summer Olympics in second place at the London Prepares Olympic test event giving clean routines on all six events, and scoring the highest on pommel horse beating his teammate Louis Smith.[5] He went on to win a bronze medal in the Pommel Horse final behind Louis Smith[6] beating world silver medallist Cyril Tommasone.

In May, he was part of the team that won Gold in the European Championships in Montpellier. This was the first time the British men's team had won a Team Gold, beating both Russia and Romania.[7] He also qualified for the Pommel Horse final, where he finished in 6th place.[8]

2012 Summer Olympics

Whitlock was a member of Britain's gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where he helped the team claim a bronze medal at the team final on 30 July 2012 at the North Greenwich Arena. This was the first time the men's team had won a medal since 1912. He also claimed the bronze medal in the pommel event final, once again beating the 2011 world silver medallist, Cyril Tommasone, with a score of 15.600, with Hungary's Krisztián Berki taking gold with the same score as Whitlock's GB team mate Louis Smith, but winning the gold on account of a higher execution rating.[9]

2013

Whitlock competed at the 2013 European Championships on 19 April 2013. Whitlock won a medal of each colour: a silver medal in the individual all-around competition, with a total score of 89.106 points behind Russian gold medalist David Belyavskiy,[10] a gold medal in the floor exercise with 15.333, and a bronze medal in the pommel horse with 15.500.[11]

2014

Between 19–25 May 2014, at the 2014 European Championships in Sofia. Whitlock, with his four Great Britain teammates, took Team silver medal behind Russia with a total score of 262.087 points. In event finals, Whitlock won the gold medal in pommel horse (16.166) ahead of 2012 Olympic champion Krisztián Berki.[12][13]

Commonwealth Games

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Whitlock, with his four England teammates, took Team gold with a score of 266.804 points.[14] In the artistic individual all-around, Whitlock won the gold medal with a score of 90.631 points.[15] Whitlock won his third gold in the Men's Floor final with a score of 15.533. He took silver in the Pommel Horse final with a score of 15.966 and bronze in the parallel bars final.

Nanning 2014

Whitlock was chosen to compete for Great Britain at 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Nanning, China. He had a difficult time in qualifications, with a fall on Floor Exercise and costly errors on 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 qualified behind teammates Daniel Purvis and Nile Wilson. 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 Kohei Uchimura who scored 91.965 to win his fifth World All-Around Championship.

2015

Whitlock competed at the English Championships in March as the defending AA champion. He won gold on pommel horse with a score of 16.4, but struggled significantly on the other events and did not compete on vault, his last event. Due to illness, he 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.[16] Despite this, Whitlock was chosen to compete at the European Championships in Montpellier on the floor and pommel horse.[17] However he did not qualify to any event finals.

After the Championships, his coach announced Whitlock would take a break from training to recover, during which he also cancelled any public appearances and stopped using social media.[18] In May, Whitlock announced on his Twitter he had returned to training.[19]

Glasgow 2015

Whitlock competed as part of the British men's team for the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics 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, Max won the place to the individual all-around final. The men's team, which included team captain 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 all-around team competition at a World Championships, winning a silver behind Japan. Whitlock and Purvis competed well in the Individual All-Round final. A fall on the High Bar kept Whitlock out of the medals, but he finished strongly on the Floor to gain a place in the top 8. He also posted the highest score on the pommel horse out of all the competitors - 16.100. On 31 October Whitlock competed in the Floor and pommel horse finals. He won the silver medal on floor behind world champion Kenzo Shirai, and later in the afternoon became the first British man ever to win a World Championship gold medal, with a score of 16.133 on the pommel horse. His teammate Louis Smith won the silver medal with a score of 16.033.[20]

2016

Whitlock competed at the Glasgow World Cup on 12 March 2016. He won the all around with 89.299.[21] Whitlock gained the highest scores of the competition on floor and pommel horse, and came second on vault and high bar.[22] On 12 July 2016, Whitlock was selected for Great Britain's 2016 Olympic gymnastic team, along with Louis Smith, Nile Wilson, Kristian Thomas and Brinn Bevan.[23]

References

  1. ^ GRO reference: February 1993, Register Number A33, District and subdistrict 5301A, Entry 260
  2. ^ "Essex pair Whitlock and Lawrence hail 'amazing' silver". BBC News. 5 October 2010.
  3. ^ "Commonwealth Games 2010: Imogen Cairns wins vault gold". 7 October 2010.
  4. ^ "Commonwealth Games 2010: Folwell & Cairns win golds". BBC News. 8 October 2010.
  5. ^ Max can start dreaming of Olympics spot (From Echo)
  6. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/gymnastics/16538978.stm BBC Sport 12 January 2012 Louis Smith and Dan Purvis win gold at Olympic test event
  7. ^ "London 2012 Olympics: Great Britain men win first ever team gold at the European Gymnastics Championships". The Daily Telegraph. 28 May 2012.
  8. ^ FIG Profile Max Whitlock http://fig.lx2.sportcentric.com/athletes/14488
  9. ^ "Olympic gymnastics: bronze for GB as Japan win silver on appeal". BBC News. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  10. ^ "Men's All Around Final Results" (PDF). European Union of Gymnastics. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  11. ^ "Full Result Book" (PDF). Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  12. ^ "Ablyazin, Wilson Dominate European Finals". international gymnast. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  13. ^ Hope, Nick (24 May 2014). "European Gymnastics: British men battle back to secure silver". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  14. ^ Brown, Oliver (29 July 2014). "Commonwealth Games 2014: England's men and women gymnasts take double gold". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  15. ^ Howson, Nick (30 July 2014). "Glasgow 2014: Max Whitlock Wins Second Commonwealth Gold in Men's Gymnastics All-Around". International Business Times. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  16. ^ https://twitter.com/maxwhitlock1/status/583369515360235520
  17. ^ http://www.southessexgym.co.uk/maxeuros/
  18. ^ http://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/12908376.Max_Whitlock_to_take_two_week_break_to_recover_from_illness_after_missing_out_on_European_Championship_finals/
  19. ^ https://twitter.com/maxwhitlock1/status/597717116758941696
  20. ^ "Max Whitlock wins gold at World Gymnastics Championships". BBC Sport. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  21. ^ < "Max Whitlock wins Glasgow World Cup gold medal for Britain". BBC Sport. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  22. ^ "Mens & Womens Artistic - Glasgow FIG Artistic World Cup 2016". 12 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  23. ^ McDaid, David (12 July 2016). "Rio 2016: Max Whitlock and Louis Smith in GB gymnastics team". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
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