MAX POWERS INTO HISTORY
Whitlock caps ‘crazy’ day with double gold as Smith takes silver
HE flew like a machine, he spun in a perfect cycle; he wiped the floor with the best the world has to offer and he rode the pommel horse gloriously, magnificently out of sight.
When he was done, Max Whitlock wrapped himself in a Union flag, stared at the floor and shook his head. Then he shook it again when he felt the weight of two gold disks on his neck.
Britain had waited through the history of gymnastics for an Olympic gold medal and in the space of two hours a quiet, modest 23-year-old from Hemel Hempstead won a pair of them. It was quite remarkable; it was not expected.
The hope, by his own admission, had been that he might ‘snatch’ a medal on the floor before fighting with his great rival, Louis Smith, for the gold on the horse.
One of those predictions sold him desperately short, for across the space of one hour and 44 minutes, Whitlock conquered all-comers. He dominated the floor, holding his nerve and form when the favourites faltered, and then won the spin-off with Smith on the pommel horse. When he dismounted, a flag was immediately put on his shoulders and soon a second precious metal followed. In time, letters will be added to his name, for life is surely about to change.
Whitlock was unable to even begin to process it all last night as he sat with the tokens of his effort next to him on a table. ‘I’ve completely outdone myself,’ he said. ‘It’s incredible. The floor was a surprise, I never go into any competition expecting a medal, I just do my job.
‘You put hours and hours in and years and years and to get a gold medal is incredible. After the floor I knew I had to focus. It was hard but I did. Now I can take both achievements in at the same time. Wow, it’s an incredible feeling.’
With a deep breath, he started up again. ‘It’s crazy,’ Whitlock said. ‘That is history. I can proudly say I will finish these Olympics with a smile on my face. This has outdone my every expectation. I am speechless. I feel complete.’
But for every winner, there are those who have fallen short. Last night, it was Smith, who sat close to tears trying to make sense of his trip to the Olympics.
He has become, quite harshly, an easy target for those who pass judgement through social media. He goes on celebrity shows, he wears his hair in a top knot — it is easy for folk to snigger and that has accelerated in the past few days after his slip on the pommel horse cost Britain a medal in the team event last week.
What has gone unseen were the doubts that filled his mind in the subsequent days, leading right up to his routine last night.
After one slip early on, he told himself ‘oh no, don’t f*** it up again’, and quickly switched to an easier routine. He pulled it off excellently, but the lesser difficulty helped open the door for Whitlock to step up and take the gold.
For Smith, who has now got two silvers to go with his bronze medal from Beijing, it was devastation and redemption mixed with a familiar feeling of disappointment.
He said: ‘I pride myself on being someone who is reliable and stable. So to mess up on the last apparatus of the team final, I have beat myself up. A lot of people had a go on my social media.
‘I got so many messages asking why am I in the team. “He only does pommel, not as good as Max” and that. So I had doubts. But I am so proud of myself, my mum, my team. I am disappointed, I wanted gold. But I am proud as well. I’d rather lose to Max than anyone else.’
Both men describe the other as a ‘friend’ and Smith said he would join Whitlock for a ‘few drinks’ after this one. But there has been a suspicion that their roles as the world’s two best practitioners on the horse make it a strained relationship.
Smith says he will come again if the selection criteria for Tokyo 2020 goes in his favour; Whitlock has a great past and expectations of a great future. ‘I will go straight back to working hard in the gym,’ the double champion said.
From there, he shook his head again at the improbability of his earlier floor win. The smart money was almost all on the Japanese phenomenon, Kenzo Shirai.
But up went Whitlock and he stunned the sport, delivering a score of 15.633. His routine finished with a triple twist and a double clenched fist.
Shirai who, at 19, has already won two floor world titles and a gold in the team event here, stumbled and tripped and finished fourth.
Whitlock suddenly looked up from the fringes of the arena and smiled. His way is not to watch when his rivals are performing, so he missed the evidence of how much better he was than the rest.
When he gets a chance, he will see what was obvious to everyone else. A marvellous champion.