Max Whitlock

Max Antony Whitlock (born 13 January 1993) is an English artistic gymnast. He holds fourteen Olympic and World Championship medals, including six titles, making him Britain’s most decorated gymnast. On the pommel horse, he stands alone as the most successful performer in Olympic history, with two golds and a bronze.

Whitlock has earned six Olympic medals—three gold and three bronze—across the all-around, team, floor exercise, and three appearances on the pommel horse. At the world level, he has collected five pommel horse medals: three gold, one silver, and one bronze. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he became the first British artistic gymnast to win an Olympic gold, taking both the floor exercise and pommel horse. He is also a four-time European champion and a four-time Commonwealth Games champion for England.

Born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, Whitlock started gymnastics at age seven after a friend from swimming club introduced him. He began at the Sapphire School of Gymnastics in his hometown. When he was twelve, his coach Klemen Bedenik moved back to Slovenia, and Whitlock followed him to Maribor for three months before returning. He then joined South Essex Gymnastics Club in Basildon, where his brother-in-law Scott Hann coaches him. Whitlock’s wife, Leah, has also coached at the club. He attended Longdean School in Hemel Hempstead.

At the 2010 Junior European Championships in Birmingham, Whitlock won gold on floor exercise and silver on pommel horse, plus silver in the all-around. Later that year, he helped England take team silver at the Commonwealth Games, adding individual silver on pommel horse and bronze on horizontal bar. He was an alternate for the British team at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo.

In 2012, Whitlock competed at the Olympic Test Event, where the British team won and secured a full team spot at the Olympics for the first time since 1992. He took silver on pommel horse behind teammate Louis Smith. At the Cottbus World Challenge Cup, he earned bronze on pommel horse. He was part of the British team that won gold at the European Championships—the first men’s team gold for Britain at a major championship. Individually, he placed sixth in the pommel horse final.