Max Whitlock ’s parents today said they were “bursting with pride” after the gymnast won Team GB’s first men’s all-around Olympics medal in more than 100 years.
Whitlock, 23, clinched bronze, making him the first British gymnast to gain a medal in the event since Walter Tysall won silver in London in 1908.
He was watched from the stands by mother, Madeleine, and father, Brian.
Madeleine said: “I’m just so, so proud I want to burst.
"To think he’s out here and who he’s competing with, you just can’t put it into words what it means.”
Whitlock, who won two bronzes at London 2012 in the pommel horse and team finals, last night also recorded top-five performances on four of the six apparatus, including the best pommel horse routine of the competition.
He will get further shots at gold on Sunday when he will compete in the pommel horse and floor finals.
Madeleine said Max started gymnastics after being introduced to it by a friend he used to go to a swimming club with.
She added: “After he went along he just walked around on handstands round the house all the time and was cartwheeling everywhere and then went to the gym all the time and never looked back.”
