Rio 2016 Olympics: Max Whitlock takes bronze for Britain as Kohei Uchimura defends all-around title

Updated 10/08/2016 at 22:45 GMT

Max Whitlock became Britain's first all-around individual Olympic medallist in 108 years as he won bronze in Rio, with Japanese superstar Kohei Uchimura claiming gold.

2016 Rio Olympics - Max Whitlock (GBR) of United Kingdom competes on the pommel horse during the men's individual all-around final.

Image credit: Reuters

A spellbinding routine on the horizontal bar lifted Kohei Uchimura into the pantheon of greats as he snatched gold to become the first gymnast in 44-years to win back-to-back Olympic all-around titles on Wednesday.

Going into the final round, it seemed as if the unthinkable would happen and the man who has been unbeaten in the event since picking up a silver in the 2008 Olympics would be knocked off his perch by Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev.

Oleg Verniaiev

Image credit: AFP

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In a high quality competition, Verniaiev led the standings from the third rotation and going into the final apparatus, he held a 0.901 of a point lead over the Japanese great.

When Uchimura, who fell from the bar during qualifying, earned 15.800 with his high-flying routine that drew a chorus of "oohs" and "ahhs" each time he performed one of his four release and catch manoeuvres, it left Verniaiev needing to overhaul a target of 14.899.

Japan's Kohei Uchimura competes in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 8, 2016

Image credit: AFP

A score of 14.800 denied him the top prize by just 0.099 of a point and left Uchimura to become only the fourth man, and the first since his compatriot Sawao Kato in 1972, to win successive golds in the event that tests skills across six apparatus.

Whitlock, meanwhile, will be thrilled to have held off Russia's David Belyavskiy to clinch bronze.