Rio Olympics’ Double Gold Medalist Max Whitlock’s and Fiancee Leah Hickton: The Dream Couple
Fate smiled on Max Whitlock twice when he bagged the first place both in the men's floor exercise and pommel horse final. He is the only British to have championed two different events on the same day in Olympics' history. His story is an inspiration because he was told by a coach in childhood that he won't make it since 'his feet didn't point'. This didn't deter him as he went on to train in a gym located in Basildon, Essex.
His family is also supportive of him then. His mom, for example, drove a 120-mile everyday just to send his son to the place and waited for 8 hours every day before taking him home. He met a great coach by the name of Scott Hann in the Essex gym and with the help of his family, all the hard work paid off. Sure enough, he emerged successful after a number of years, making the 2016 Olympics a memorable event.
Whitlock is not the only one ecstatic after his phenomenal performance. The gifted gymnast got engaged to fellow gymnast and long-time girlfriend, Leah Hickton. They have been together for 9 years and Whitlock finally proposed to the lucky woman in June this year. Hickton who is a gymnastics coach at present, expressed her excitement by sending Whitlock a message saying "Oh my God you're Olympic champion!" immediately after his win.
The exuberant fiancée has been with the amazing gymnast when they were still 14 and members of a gymnastics club. Hickton is certainly an inspiration to Whitlock as she trained together with him since childhood. Leah shared the secret to Hickton's success: "He doesn't even watch the other competitors, he just focuses on doing his own job. This is how he deals so well with the pressure."
"He's still the same modest guy he was when I met him. He's quite chilled out really...He's a role model to so many kids and I hope he inspires more people to take part in gymnastics."
Although Leah didn't go to Rio for fear of the Zika virus, her presence was warmly felt by Max. The support of the Hickton family is also overwhelming. Regarding Max's proposal, Leah appreciated his concern.
"Max proposed when he did because he knew I needed long enough to prepare the wedding. Before he went I looked at some venues and found one I liked...and then I fell in love with it. He had one day off training so we went and he loved it as well."
Well, isn't that a relationship worth emulating. Based from the couple's accounts when it comes to their relationship, it was implied that they gave each other room to achieve their dreams first before making things serious.