Three-time Olympic champion Max Whitlock is ending his retirement to chase a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, the 32-year-old British gymnast announced Monday.
Whitlock, who had previously declared the 2024 Paris Olympics would be his swan song, said he felt his career remained “unfinished” after missing out on a podium finish.
“I’m officially back. I’m a gymnast again, and it feels incredible,” Whitlock told the BBC’s The One Show. “For the past year, something has been tugging at me—it’s been itching away constantly. It feels unfinished, incomplete.”
“So I'm going back in, a three-year stint. I want to make it to my fifth Olympic Games. I know it's a dangerous game to play, but I want to finish it on a high. I want to rewrite the end of my career,” he said.
Whitlock, who will be 35 when the LA Games begin, won gold in the floor exercise and pommel horse at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and another pommel horse gold in Tokyo in 2021.
He said returning to elite competition after a break will be challenging, particularly with younger competitors rising through the ranks and major events such as the British Championships and Commonwealth Games ahead next year.
“I had a year out completely. I've come back in slowly,” he said. “The other week I picked up an injury ... who knows what's to come.”
