Max Whitlock has declared his intention to come out of retirement and target a place at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Whitlock, whose three Olympic gold medals make him the most successful British gymnast in history, had initially announced that the 2024 Paris Games would be his last.
But following his failure to add to his medal haul in the French capital, Whitlock admitted he quickly came to the realisation that he wished to give it one more shot.
Whitlock told The Times: “I was sitting in a station with my family in a cafe for a little bit (soon after Paris) and I said to them, ‘I’m not done, I can’t finish it like that’.
“It was the raw emotion of getting back to the UK and just feeling like I can’t end it like that. Something just didn’t feel right.”
Whitlock, who will be 35 by the time of the competition in Los Angeles, will aim to return to a GB gymnastics team boasting the likes of reigning world champion Jake Jarman – who is nine years his junior.
But he maintained: “Unfinished is the exact word. My career’s just not complete. I thought, ‘It’s the right time for me to retire but it’s not the right way’.”
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Favourite Olympics memory? Dream athlete to chat to? Get to know Max Whitlock, the most successful gymnast in British history…
Whitlock rose to prominence by taking two bronze medals on his Olympic debut at London 2012, contributing to the host nation’s success in the team event along with individual success on the pommel horse.
He would go on to become Britain’s first individual Olympic gold medallist in artistic gymnastics by winning both the pommel horse and floor events in Rio de Janeiro four years later, while also earning Team GB a first medal for 108 years in the all-around event as he took bronze.
Whitlock then retained his pommel horse title at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.
The Hertfordshire-born athlete has claimed 32 major international medals in total, including three World Championship golds, four European Championship titles and four further triumphs at the Commonwealth Games.
Following his Olympic triumph in Tokyo, Whitlock took an 18-month break from competing to address mental health struggles.
