Tokyo 2020: 'Nerves haven't kicked in yet' says Essex gymnast Max Whitlock

Max Whitlock won Olympic gold in the floor exercise and pommel horse in Rio in 2016

With just five weeks to go until the Tokyo Olympics, Essex gymnast Max Whitlock says the nerves "haven't kicked in just yet."

The 28-year-old is the most successful British artistic gymnast in history, winning two gold and three bronze medals at the London and Rio Olympics.

The 28-year-old will be competing in his third Olympics.

Max will lead Great Britain's four-man artistic gymnastics team at this summer's Games, which will be his third Olympics.

He'll be joined by the 2019 parallel bars world champion Joe Fraser, 22, James Hall, 25, and 22-year-old Giarrni Regini-Moran.

Throughout the pandemic, Max has been training daily at home, helped by the fact he has a pommel horse in his back garden.

He also launched ‘Gymnastics with Max’ – live, free workouts on YouTube for gymnastics novices and elites - to help inspire more people to take up the sport.

  • ITV Anglia's Donovan Blake spoke to Max Whitlock ahead of the Games

"I never expect medals", Max said.

"My main job is to go there and perform the best that I can. I like to put myself in a position where hopefully I can go in with the potential to gain a title."

"As a team we have got a lot of potential, we are a really strong team, both men and women. It is really exciting to see what we can go and do."