Smith had laid down the marker with 15.833, but as the penultimate gymnast in the competition, Whitlock produced a brilliant display to take the gold with 15.966.
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Shirai had been the favourite to become the first Japanese gymnast to win the floor exercise since Sawao Kato in 1968, but his gold medal hopes looked shaky when he nearly sat down following a triple twisting front somersault.
Whitlock had already made history a little over an hour before by becoming his country’s first Olympic gymnastics champion with a surprise gold on the floor, and he followed that up by beating teammate Louis Smith in his favoured event.
Taking to Twitter, one said: “Louis Smith seemed well jeal of #MaxWhitlock beating him to the gold medal”.
Mikulak’s qualifying floor score was 15.800; in the team final, Shirai looked like his world champion self and scored 16.133 on floor.
For 23-year-old Whitlock and 27-year-old Smith, however, this will not be their last Olympic Games as both have said they hope defend their achievements at the next Games in 2020.
Great Britain’s gold rush was boosted further by sailor Giles Scott, who is guaranteed first place in the men’s Finn class ahead of tomorrow’s medal race. “I had another job to do on pommel horse and I had to go back and refocus and get warmed up for that”, he said.
Fans accused him of not being “gracious” in defeat and for failing to congratulate Whitlock who is actually his team mate who picked up gold for their country.
He outdid Brazilian crowd favorites Diego Hypolito and Arthur Mariano, who finished second and third.
Whitlock is the reigning world champion on pommel horse, and is riding high after winning an all-around bronze medal a few days ago.
Max Whitlock becomes the first British gymnast to score gold at the Olympics and that’s not even the best part.
The world No. 12 edged out Open champion and Ryder Cup teammate Henrik Stenson – who is also a neighbour in Lake Nona, Florida – in a thrilling final-round battle at Reserva de Marapendi. “I am disappointed I did not get gold”, he said.
She told the BBC after her win: “It means the absolute world to me”. These medals also give Team GB a total of five gymnastics medals in Rio making it their most successful ever, with more finals still to come. “My parents could see that I had always had a love for the sport and that had gone, so we had to do something about it”.
“I don’t know when it will hit me”, he said.
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“When I was doing the team, I felt that we were pushing each other’s backs, propelling each other along”.
