Max Whitlock was warming up for his pommel horse final at the Paris Olympics when his South Korean rival Hur Woong approached him and translated a message into his phone. “It said he’s been watching me for over 10 years and he’s learned a lot from me,” says the 31-year-old. “It’s a surreal feeling to be at competitions with gymnasts that looked up to me when they were young.”
Five days before we meet, Britain’s greatest gymnast stepped up to the pommel for the last time as the reigning Olympic champion. He brushed his hands, blew out his breath and threw himself upside down. His performance was as accomplished as ever, circling the apparatus at astonishing speed, swinging the giant scissor flares that have become his signature. Only the tiniest error, as his legs momentarily drifted apart, cost him points.
