Max Whitlock, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, has said he wants to come out of retirement and try to secure a spot at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. “My career’s just not complete,” he said.
Max Whitlock has said he wants to come out of retirement and try to secure a spot in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Whitlock, who has won three Olympic gold medals, making him the most successful British gymnast ever, has said that the 2024 Paris Games would be his last.
Whitlock said that when he didn’t win any more medals in Paris, he instantly realised he wanted to give it another try.
“I was at a station with my family in a cafe for a little while (not long after Paris) and I told them, ‘I’m not done, I can’t finish it like that,'” Whitlock told The Times.
“It was the raw emotion of coming back to the UK and thinking, ‘I can’t finish it like way.’ There was just something off.
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Whitlock, who will be 35 when the tournament takes place in Los Angeles, will try to get back on the GB gymnastics squad, which includes reigning world champion Jake Jarman, who is nine years younger than Whitlock.
But he kept saying, “Unfinished is the right word. My career isn’t done yet. I thought, ‘It’s time for me to retire, but not the right way.'”
Whitlock became famous when he won two bronze medals in the London 2012 Olympics. He helped his country win the team event and also did well on the pommel horse.
Four years later, he won both the pommel horse and floor events in Rio de Janeiro, making him the first British person to win an Olympic gold medal in artistic gymnastics. He also won Team GB’s first medal in the all-around event in 108 years, taking bronze.
Whitlock then kept his pommel horse championship at the Tokyo Games, which were pushed up to 2021.
The athlete from Hertfordshire has won 32 major international medals, including three golds at the World Championships, four golds at the European Championships, and four more at the Commonwealth Games.
After winning the Olympics in Tokyo, Whitlock took a sabbatical from competition for 18 months to deal with mental health issues.
