Hemel Hempstead's Max Whitlock retains Olympic pommel title

The 28-year-old, who comes from Hemel Hempstead, went first in the eight-man final and posted a score of 15.583 that proved unbeatable, with Chinese Taipei’s Chih Kai Lee coming closest on 15.4, and Japan’s Kazuma Kaya winning bronze.

Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan, who had topped the qualifying standings alongside Lee, came off the apparatus early in his routine and finished out of the medals.

Whitlock had swept out the Rio Games with the singular intention of emulating his Japanese idol Kohei Uchimura and launching a concerted bid to claim the all-around title.

But a pair of disappointing results on the floor convinced him to essentially shift all his focus to his most successful piece of apparatus for the remainder of the Olympic cycle.

Whitlock successfully defended his pommel title in Montreal in 2017, but McClenaghan confirmed his emergence as a major rival the following year, when he won his first major title at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Great Britain's Max Whitlock during the Men's Pommel Horse Final (Image PA)

McClenaghan also won the European title in Glasgow, where Whitlock fell, and a tough year for the Briton ended in him narrowly losing his world title to China’s Xiao Ruoteng in Qatar.

Undaunted by his apparent dip in form, Whitlock began to feel the benefit of his singular focus the following year, when he regained his world title in Stuttgart.

But the challenge to Whitlock was made plain during qualifying, when a minor mistake saw him qualify in a relatively lowly fifth out of eight finalists, his score of 14.9 comfortably eclipsed by both McClenaghan and Chinese Taipei’s Chih Kai Lee, who topped the standings on 15.266.

As so often in his career, the incredibly focused Whitlock provided a nerveless response, setting a standard that yet again none of his rivals were capable of meeting.