Max has still got the Will to win
MAX WHITLOCK has hatched plans to go from Tokyo to two more Olympics – in order to show daughter Willow the world.
Britain’s double champion from Rio is the oldest member of the four-man team competing at these Games.
At 28 he has been at the top of the sport for a decade and is the most successful British gymnast in history – having won the nation its first two Olympic gold medals in 2016.
Here he competes in just three disciplines compared to teammates James Hall, Joe Fraser and Giarnni Regini-moran, who each go in all six.
Yet Whitlock insists he is not winding down and last night revealed his goal of going to Paris in 2024 and, quite possibly, Los Angeles four years after that.
“Willow is definitely a massive motivation for me to carry on pushing,” he said. “She’s my motivation to stay at this level.”
Willow
(inset) is two-and-a-half
from ALEX SPINK years old and Whitlock said: “I want her to travel the world. LA is 2028 and she’ll be a bit older by then. It would be cool if she can follow me.
“I know I’m 28 now and the peak age for a gymnast is 20 to 23. But I’m still making these teams.
“There’s there’s no chance of me stopping any time soon.”
Whitlock is the poster boy of a sport badly hit by claims of serious abuse on both sides of the Atlantic.
In February a group of 17 women and girls announced they were to start legal action against the governing body in Britain over alleged mistreatment.
That followed world silver medallist Becky Downie, her sister Ellie and a number of other British gymnasts speaking out about abusive behaviour.
Becky was later snubbed by the selectors for Tokyo and it caused uproar. “There’s been tough times in the sport, 100 per cent,”
Whitlock said. “But I think those tough times will actually, in time, make for a huge positive.
“Having those gymnasts stand up, is a really important part of the process to make things better.”