There is no apparatus in men’s gymnastics as unforgiving as the pommel horse. If you approach it with any hint of nerves or tension, you are done. Even among the very best in the world, many of whom count it as their strongest apparatus, it at times feels like a coin flip.
Still, nobody in this modern era of elite gymnastics has made their performance on the pommel horse look as reliable as Max Whitlock, already among the all-time greats on the apparatus. On Saturday afternoon, though, Whitlock’s attempt to become the first man to win four world gold medals on the apparatus ended with a bitter fall late in his routine and a fifth-place finish.
