Six Pommel Horse Olympic medals for Great Britain: how did it all happen?

Four years before, Beth Tweddle had won a bronze medal on bars at the European Championships – the first-ever major medal for a women’s artistic gymnast. Was this the catalyst that the men needed? British gymnasts can perform and medal on the international stage. Beth then went on to win bronze and then finally gold at the world championships on her favoured apparatus. 

With the announcement of Great Britain hosting the 2012 Games in London, some money was made available for the men. Eddie Van Hoof was appointed National Technical Director in 2006 along with three national coaches – Andre Popov, Sergei Sizhanov and Barry Collie. 

The emergence of one determined coach

There was, however, one coach who seemed to go his own way; he hadn’t read the history of doom and gloom of the past; he had a task to fulfil and just got on with it.  

Using intuition, initiative, dedication and technical know-how, Paul Hall, by his own admission, an ex 2nd rate gymnast, had already made strides on one apparatus, in particular, the pommel horse. Paul was the coach to Louis Smith.   

In 2007, Dan Keatings, from Huntingdon, coached by Paul, won the silver medal on Pommel Horse at the European Championships; this was the start of something big. 

Meanwhile, another gymnast from Huntingdon was also making his mark. He had won the Junior European Pommel Horse title in 2004 & again in 2006; surely, this boy could go on to do great things. 

He rose to the occasion in the senior ranks in Stuttgart in 2007 at the World Championships, coming 3rd on the pommels. 

Junior men make their mark

In 2008, the Junior GB men’s Artistic Gymnastics team won gold at the European Championships, beating Russia. Another indication of things to come and a coup for the British coaches and their programme. By now, Louis had progressed to the senior team, where perhaps he was disappointed that he didn’t make his mark in these 2008 Europeans; he failed to qualify for the pommel finals.

The 2008 Olympics

With these results, both Huntingdon gymnasts were selected for the 2008 Olympics. What a great tribute to Paul Hall’s coaching ability. Both gymnasts performed well, with Dan making the All-Around final and finishing in 20th position. Not bad for a first-year senior. This matched Neil Thomas in modern-day Olympics; Neil was 20th in the All-Around at Barcelona in 1992. We had achieved some great placings in 1908 where Walter Tysall won the silver medal and a further five gymnasts from GBR were in the top 20. Was this something to do with London being the host city? Nik Stuart did achieve 21st place in 1956, but this may have been due to the limited entry; there were only 63 competitors at these Melbourne Games contrasting with 185 in 1952 Helsinki and 130 in Rome in 1960.

Louis cool as cucumber

Though not making the All-Around final, Louis Smith did qualify in 5th place for the Pommel Horse final.

Paul Hall recalls

“On the day of the final, I was quite nervous, but Louis appeared relaxed and was singing reggae to his ipod on the bus to the venue. Warm up went well, and I nipped to the loo as the gymnasts prepared for the march into the Arena. I returned and could not find Louis anywhere. Seven gymnasts were in the line, and the Controller was calling for the final time, with no sign of the GB athlete. I was in a mild panic and searched the warm up gym for my missing gymnast. As I was leaning against the podium, a hand shot out from under the staging and grabbed my leg. ‘Surprise!’ said Louis, with a big grin. I jumped, and guided this crazy kid to the queue of gymnasts already marching out for the final at the Olympic Games, still grinning and pleased that he had managed to play a prank on his coach. Cool as the proverbial cucumber, he executed his complex routine, oblivious to the historic moment that saw him win GB gymnastics first Olympic medal in a century. 

 

In the final he had upped his game. The score went up, 2nd place tying with Filip Ude of Croatia. His excitement was short lived as he was dropped to 3rd, learning for the first time the hard lesson of ‘count back’. He had a massive difficulty score of 6.7, the highest in the final, but this meant that his execution score was less than the gymnast from Croatia, whose execution score of 9.325 was three-tenths ahead of Louis. In the event of a tie, the gymnast with the highest execution is superior.”

Louis and Paul Hall have been working together since Louis was 8 years old. “Terry Sharpington (the late head coach at Huntingdon) saw what Louis was capable of before I did”, said Paul. “He is not the classic proportions for gymnastics, not the normal model for sport, but what a competitor, put the pressure on Louis, and he delivers.”

The question for Paul Hall after this historic occasion, only the 2nd British gymnast to win an Olympic medal and the first since 1908, was, could he keep his protege on track for another four years?

Enter tenacious coach number two

Scott Hann, a past GB squad gymnast, had taken over as head coach at South Essex Gym club after Jeff Davis had retired from the position. He, too, had the same analytical mind, this passion, determination and can-do attitude as Paul Hall. Although no SEGC gymnasts had reached the podium at the British championship in these years, a team of formidable talent had been winning the Adams Shield from 2010 with a young – Max Whitlock – as a team member. Max had also been part of the 2010 GB junior team that won gold at the European Championships and had come 2nd to Sam Oldham in the same event. 

The 2012 Olympics

What an occasion! An Olympics in our backyard, surely, with the extra funding secured, the boys could go one better. Louis was selected for the team but only to compete on pommels and high bar with the hope of winning another medal on pommels. A young Max Whitlock from South Essex was also selected, working on all apparatus except the high bar. 

A historic team medal

Anyone who was there or watched the events unfold will remember the excitement of the men’s team final at the 2012 Olympics. The way that the boys rose to the occasion, Kristian Thomas’ massive vault and, of course, two great scores on pommels; one from Louis and the second from the then practically unknown Max Whitlock. It was then a complete and delightful surprise to know that not only had Louis made the pommel final but so had Max, qualifying in 8th place. 

Louis Smith performing in the Pommel Final at the London 2012 Olympics
Photo – BG

Scott recalls 

“When competing, Max stays focused. He never looks at the scores of others until the end of the competition. As Max was early up in the floor final, and he had the pommel final next he kept his head down. It was my job to keep an eye on what was going on and make any informed decisions going around. Max had performed a great routine on the floor and we were both happy with his score. There were some big names to perform after him, all capable of big scores, so we hoped to scrape a bronze medal maybe, but if not, we were happy as it set him up for the pommel final. One by one, the next performers made mistakes meaning Max stayed in the top spot. I remember Kristian asking him if he wanted to know the scores, but Max said no. As each gymnast went, Max’s medal colour changed. I tried hard to refrain from telling him anything but when the last competition finished and the score came out, I remember hitting Max in the leg and just saying you’re Olympic Champion! He was quite emotional and neither of us had planned or prepared for that! It was an amazing feeling, but we both knew we had to re-compose ready for the pommel final as that was what we were there to do. And that’s exactly what he did.”

The Final 

Max and Louis both kept their nerve, with Max deciding he needed a bit of a cushion to win, so upped his start value by one-tenth. The result – a momentous gold and silver. This was a moment to treasure, a second Olympic gold medal for the UK in less than an hour. 

Max Whitlock performing in the Pommel Final at the Rio 2016 Olympics
Photo – BG Getty Images

Max Whitlock in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Pommel Horse Final
Photo – Courtesy Garry Bowden Sport in pictures  British Gymnastics

The Final 

Scott again 

“Max was due to go second, so we practised walking out, a quick rest, then compete. The day before, we were informed Max would go first due to a tie-break rule. Bearing in mind Max had never competed first in a final, even with all his experience, it still caught us by surprise. After sitting down on the podium, not realising the green light was about to go on, Max stands up and presents to the judges. I have never been so unsure of what was about to happen. Max went into what I can only describe as a superhuman transformation calling on all of his experience. What transpired next, I’ll never forget. No matter what the journey has been or what experience I have, I was mesmerised by his performance, as I think he was. It was like he started and finished without realising the genius routine in between.”

His score was posted, 15.583,  2 tenths upon his difficulty score and 0.483 up on his execution score. Then the waiting, was 15.583 enough? Lee of China, the leader in qualification, was the real threat, but Max had to wait for another three gymnasts to perform before Lee performed at number 5. He had done it, Olympic champion back to back and three medals in 3 consecutive Olympics.

One for the history books

Max’s record matches that of the great Nikolai Andrianov, the only other gymnast to achieve back to back gold in the triple medal run for an individual Olympic apparatus final.

FLOOR EXERCISE
Nikolai Andrianov – Gold Munich 1972, Gold Montreal 1976 & Silver Moscow 1980

VAULT
Nikolai Andrianov – Bronze Munich 1972, Gold Montreal 1976 & Gold Moscow 1980

POMMEL HORSE
Max Whitlock – Bronze London 2012, Gold Rio 2016, Gold Tokyo 2020 (took place in 2021).

Four decades apart – Max Whitlock back to back with Andrianov, swinging into the Olympic history books in Rio
Photo – BG Getty Images

Written by Meg Warren with contributions from Paul Hall, Scott Hann