... Now he’s going to wed sweetheart
HIS love of gymnastics has just cemented his place in history with Britain’s first ever gold in the sport.
But it also introduced Max Whitlock to another important part of his life – his childhood sweetheart, soon to be his wife.
The 23-year-old gymnast proposed to girlfriend Leah Hickton in June, getting down on one knee in the Lake District. He later said he was more nervous at that moment than he was competing at the Games.
The pair started dating when they were just 14 after meeting at a gym club and bonding at a summer gymnastics camp.
Miss Hickton, women’s head coach at South Essex Gymnastics Club, said of the proposal: ‘He planned a weekend away, which is not like him … he wouldn’t tell me anything about it, so I did wonder what was going on.’
While Whitlock’s mother Madeleine and father Brian were in the crowd last night, his fiancee decided not to travel to Rio because of concerns over the Zika virus.
But she said she was ‘jumping for joy’ as she watched his victory on TV. ‘I’m just in total shock at the moment,’ she said last night. ‘Oh my God, that was amazing. I sent him a message that just said, “Oh my God, you’re Olympic champion”.’ His two
‘Handstands round the house’
golds take his medal total to three, following his bronze in the all-round event on Wednesday.
Whitlock’s success is a mark of his determination to overcome challenges.
His coach Scott Hann was once told that the gymnast was going to struggle as ‘his feet don’t point’.
‘But because he has feet that bend the other way, it actually helps him land his dismounts,’ Mr Hann has said since.
‘So when he sticks everything, it’s because of his feet. It is very strange how it all turns out.’ He added: ‘His forte is being able to compete under pressure.’
Whitlock, from Hemel Hempstead, has also battled glandular fever which left him bedridden for three weeks last year.
And in May this year he was forced to pull out of the European Championships because of a virus, casting doubts over his ability to recover fully in time to prepare for the Olympic Games.
But no one could question his dedication to the sport. He lives, with his fiancee, just a ten-minute drive from the Essex gym where he trains seven days a week. He was introduced to gymnastics aged seven by a friend. His mother recalled: ‘After he went along he just walked on handstands round the house all the time and was cartwheeling everywhere, and then went to the gym all the time and never looked back.’
After two London 2012 bronze medals, Whitlock picked up European and Commonwealth titles and last year won gold at the world championships on the pommel horse.
But in May last year he found he was struggling with routine twists and tricks. ‘I went from feeling the fittest I’ve ever been, making my routines, to slowly deteriorating,’ he said. ‘I’d struggle to do anything over 30 seconds long.’
Blood tests revealed glandular fever. He was told to rest for three weeks – only the second time he had been away from the gym for so long since the London Games.
‘I tried not to get out of bed… which was tough,’ he told the BBC. ‘But I do believe it got me more motivated to get back to where I was, and hopefully better.’
His medals will come as no surprise to his former teacher at Nash Mills Church of England School in Hertfordshire. Penny Holliday said: ‘He sticks in my mind because he was one of those children who always gave 100 per cent. If he didn’t get it right, he would go back and do it again and again.’
Last night, bookmakers Coral slashed the odds of Whitlock being crowned 2016’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year to 6-1.