Great Britain's most successful gymnast of all time, Max Whitlock, agonisingly missed out on a last pommel horse medal as he retired with a fourth-placed finish in Saturday's men's final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The 31-year-old was attempting to become the first-ever male gymnast to win three successive gold medals in the pommel horse, having conquered the apparatus in both Rio and Tokyo before a period away from the sport.
The three-time Olympic champion - who also won the floor event at the 2016 Games - revealed earlier this year that the Paris Olympics would be his final international tournament, and he qualified for the pommel horse final in third place.
In typical Whitlock fashion, the Briton went for broke difficulty-wise, but a slight hesitation at the start of his routine and loss of form in the legs towards the end saw him pick up a couple of fatal execution deductions.
The 31-year-old finished with a total score of 15.200 - marginally higher than his qualification score of 15.166 - as he finished just outside the podium positions, conceding his Olympic title to Ireland trailblazer Rhys McClenaghan.
The two-time world champion scored a whopping 15.533 to pip Kazakhstan's Nariman Kurbanov to the title by a tenth of a mark, while the USA's Stephen Nedoroscik scored 15.300 - 0.100 more than Whitlock - to nab the bronze.
Simone Biles wins seventh gold after Jake Jarman floor bronze
An emotional Max Whitlock reacts to a question about his daughter who was able watch his final Olympic appearance ðŸ˜#Olympics #Paris2024 #BBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/9OH26xka0H
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 3, 2024
Whitlock retires with an astonishing six Olympic medals, eight World Championship medals, eight European Championship medals and 10 Commonwealth Games medals to his name, but Saturday was a day for Irish history, as McClenaghan became the first gymnast from his country to become an Olympic champion.
Before Whitlock - who let emotion take over in his post-routine interview - pulled up his leotard straps for the final time, his compatriot Jake Jarman made it onto the floor podium, finishing third in a high-quality final with a total score of 14.933.
The 22-year-old had qualified for the final in first place and completed one of the most difficult floor tumbles in the sport - a triple-twisting double straight back somersault - but like Whitlock, he was slightly down on execution.
The Philippines' Carlos Yulo posted a score of 15.000 to take the gold ahead of Jarman and silver medallist Artem Dolgopyat of Israel, who totalled 14.966, while GB's Luke Whitehouse - who opened his routine with a triple back somersault - finished sixth with 14.466.
In between the two men's finals, the scintillating Simone Biles won her third gold of the Paris Games and her seventh Olympic gold overall in the women's vault, where she performed one of her eponymous skills, the Biles II.
The 27-year-old nailed her double piked back yurchenko vault and averaged 15.300 after two routines to add to her all-around and team titles, while Brazil's Rebeca Andrade scored 14.966 to take the silver.
Biles was joined on the vault podium by compatriot Jade Carey, whose 14.466 was good enough for bronze.
Ben Knapton
