Yahoo Finance Max Whitlock: It's time to close the gap on the big three
A FOURTH-PLACE Olympic finish was an impressive achievement for Team GB’s young men’s gymnastics squad but Max Whitlock says now is the time to close the gap on the top three.
Whitlock is starting to become accustomed to fourth spot in the men’s team final, having also been part of the unit that placed there at Rio 2016, although he knows what it takes to reach the podium after guiding the London 2012 group to an historic bronze.
The Hemel Hempstead-raised star, who trains out of South Essex Gymnastics Club in Basildon, may be a five-time Olympic medallist but the rest of the class of 2020 – Joe Fraser, James Hall and Giarnni Regini-Moran – were making their Games debuts in Tokyo.
That makes the top-four finish at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on Monday, secured by Whitlock’s brilliant pommel horse routine on the final rotation which saw Team GB leapfrog Team USA, quite an achievement.
And the 28-year-old was quick to salute his younger teammates, while also having one eye on moving closer to medal winners – the Russian Olympic Committee, Japan and China – after finishing 6.134 points out of bronze with their total of 255.760.
“Getting into the medals was always going to be hard – those three teams have showed so much strength throughout the cycle,” explained Whitlock, who's Olympic exploits are shown live on Eurosport and discovery+.
“We knew there was a gap there but that we were top five. We proved that today, we put a lot of risk into our routines and it paid off.
“Fourth place is hard, just outside the medals but there was a big gap there, so we can be really pleased with that.
“It’s a young team – I’m the oldest by a few years – they’ve all become Olympians this time around, so they’re massively proud.
“Fourth place is a really, really high achievement for us – now we can work on it, look at how we can close the gap and push into those medal positions. We’ve done it before, so hopefully we can do it again.”
Whitlock’s Olympics are far from over, as he looks to defend the pommel horse title he won so spectacularly at Rio 2016 when he competes in the final on Sunday.
And while getting another pommel routine under his belt in the team final will have served as extra practice, he was keen to stress that wasn’t his main focus.
“It’s nice to get that opportunity to go out there and try another routine,” added Whitlock. “Every practice helps as preparation but the main focus was doing it for the team.
We should be proud of what we did out there – everyone did a great job.”
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