Britain’s Max Whitlock Wins Two Golds In Gymnastics, Brazilian Duo Hypolito and Mariano Make History

Max Whitlock won two Olympic gold medals for Great Britain in Rio on Sunday, capturing both the men’s gymnastics floor and the pommel horse.

The 23-year-old’s two titles came within less than two hours of each other. His first gold medal was also Britain’s first-ever Olympic gymnastics gold.

British teammate Louis Smith, 27, won silver in the pommel– just as he did at the London 2012 Games.

“I’ve completely outdone myself,” Whitlock told BBC Sport.

The penultimate gymnast to perform in the final, Whitlock scored 15.966 to push Smith, who scored 15.833, down to second place.

Team USA’s Alexander Naddour won bronze with 15.700.

Whitlock now has five Olympic medals, winning bronze in the all-around last week to add to bronzes in the team event and pommel horse at London 2012.

“I knew I had to refocus as I had another job to do,” he said of the quick transition from men’s floor to pommel horse on Sunday.

Smith, meanwhile, won his third individual medal in three consecutive Games, after winning bronze at Beijing 2008 and silver – ahead of Whitlock – four years later.

He narrowly missed the gold in London, and is thus still seeking his first Olympic title.

Smith was in tears as he received his medal, before embracing his teammate warmly as he stepped onto the podium. He took the time to praise Whitlock, nonetheless.

“Max has been an absolute star in this competition,” Smith told BBC Sport. “He’s been incredible. It’s hard to keep composure when a team-mate has just won a medal. I just tried to keep focus.”

Smith briefly retired after the 2012 Olympics before returning to gymnastics in January 2014.

In the pommel, Smith went fifth of the eight finalists and set the score to beat with a fantastically executed routine.

Whitlock also won Britain’s first gymnastics all-around Olympic medal in 108 years by taking bronze on Wednesday. On the floor, the Brit finished ahead of Brazilian duo Diego Hypolito (15.533) and Arthur Mariano (15.433), who took silver and bronze respectively.

Whitlock won silver at the 2015 World Championships behind Japan’s Kenzo Shirai, who was expected to be the man to beat in Brazil. Shirai ended up placing fourth, with a final score of 15.366.

American Sam Mikulak finished eighth in the floor exercise and seventh in the individual all-around.

Hypolito and Mariano enjoyed loud crowd support for their routines. The Brazilian-heavy crowd, who booed Whitlock for his first-place finish, but he was at least spared from crowd input during his routine. Shirai, a former crowd favorite, had posted the week’s highest floor exercise score of 16.133 in the team event, and at the age of 19 is the youngest-ever male world champion on that apparatus. Mikulak also previously drew considerable sympathy, given that he had recently recovered from two broken ankles and several other injuries to qualify in first place for the final with a score of 15.800.

Performing through chants of ‘Diego!’, Shirai made two shaky landings that cost him his chance at a medal. Then, when Mikulak stepped up as the last gymnast to perform, the crowd became even more raucous. The Rio Olympic Arena filled with chants of ‘Diego!’ and ‘Brazil!’, with the crowd making no effort to hide their delight whenever the American made a mistake, something that happened increasingly as his routine went on.

Twitter soon became ablaze with comments harshly criticizing the crowd, calling its behavior ‘disgusting’, ‘disrespectful’, ‘rude’ and ‘f—-ed up’. Mikulak himself confessed: ‘Yeah, I got pretty rattled… They really wanted their country to win, and that’s what the crowd [is there for].’ Beaten favourite Shirai said: “I felt like I was very much alone.”

Hypolito and Mariano warmly embraced each other and held up the Brazilian flag, beaming with joy and with tears in their eyes as they returned to the floor and took in the crowd’s adoration. Mariano–whom American gold medalist Simone Biles is reportedly close to and has jokingly called her ‘Brazilian boyfriend’– displayed a reaction that was incredibly emotional, to say the least. Just before the final results for the men’s floor were announced, he lay crouched on the floor, his head buried in his hands, waiting in anticipation. When the results came in, he leaped up in joy as the cameras surrounded him, and immediately welled up, shaking and rushing to embrace Hypolito.

Biles picked up her third gold medal, on the vault, on Sunday. She posted the following pictures of her and Mariano after their respective medal wins:

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 15: Max Whitlock of Great Britain poses for photographs with his two gold medals in front of the Olympic Park on day 10 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Rio Olympic Arena on August 15, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena