Gymnastics: Whitlock wins men’s pommel horse to scoop second gold

By Pritha Sarkar

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Max Whitlock made it a day to remember for Britain when he swiveled to the top of the podium with a smooth and silky pommel horse performance which earned him a second gold at the Olympics on Sunday.

Less than two hours after he ended Britain’s 120-year wait for an Olympic gymnastics gold medal by winning the floor exercise, Whitlock was again on top in his specialist event with a score of 15.966.

Louis Smith completed a one-two for Britain as he picked up a second successive Olympic silver in the discipline with 15.833.

His “man bun” stood proud on his head as he moved smoothly up and down the block of wood to earn 15.833.

But with three more rivals to go after him in the final, including world champion Whitlock, Smith spent much of the next 15 minutes kneeling on the floor, unable to look at the scoreboard as he waited to see if anyone would leapfrog him.

In the end, his gold medal hopes were dashed by his own teammate, just as they were at the 2015 world championships when the British duo also claimed the top two spots on the podium.

American Alex Naddour picked up the bronze.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; editing by Andrew Hay and Bill Rigby)