GB gymnastics boss: We'll prepare Max Whitlock for Tokyo 2020

Whitlock ensured his name would forever be etched into the British record books in Rio when he became Team GB’s first Olympic champion when he triumphed in both the floor and pommel events in the space of just 104 minutes.

Throw into the mix a bronze in the all-around and Whitlock’s Olympic medal collection had suddenly expanded to a staggering five following pommel and team bronze at London 2012 four years earlier.

A well-earned holiday, wedding planning and a nomination for Sports Personality of The Year have since followed but the new year will bring with it a serious return to gymnastics matters for Whitlock along with his teammates.

The next 12 months will bring with it the usual European and World Championships with Whitlock the reigning pommel champion at the latter.

But while competitions changes are set to be introduced by the International Gymnastics Federation during the next Olympic cycle – the qualification process for Tokyo will be more complicated while the number of gymnasts allowed to compete for their country in the team competition will change from five to four at the next Games – van Hoof expects Whitlock to continue to lead the charge.

“We put the programme on hold until January, so that’s when everything will kick off again,” said van Hoof, speaking at the UK Coaching Awards.

“Everybody has had some time off with a break, had their downtime and enjoyed that success, and now we’re ready to start again.

“Max has achieved so much in that short space of time between London, where he too was a medallist, right the way through to Rio.

“But now the points change, the international rules change and the qualification system alters so now we have to sit down and plot what is the best strategy for Max.

“He’s keen to carry on through to Tokyo as are most of what is a fairly young team, we’ll just put the plans together and work away at it.

“The rule changes alter the team size, so the dynamics will have to be tweaked a little bit, but Max is certainly in the frame for pommel horse, but he’s that good an all-rounder that he can adapt to everything.”

Van Hoof was speaking after being named as UK Coach of the Year at a glittering awards night at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Wembley on Tuesday night.

The UK Coaching Awards, organised by Sports Coach UK, is an annual celebration to honour sports coaches and coaching organisations who have demonstrated outstanding success over the previous 12 months.

Van Hoof – who was also named joint winner of the High Performance Coach of the Year – was presented with his accolades by the HRH The Princess Royal and admitted that the recognition represented the progress that has been made by British Gymnastics over the last decade.

“In gymnastics, my first coaching job came straight off the team in 1995 and we were always around 19th in the world, which was good, but to be up there with the leaders of the sport shows just how much progress has been made in the last ten years,” he added,

“Coaching has been my life. I’ve been within the sport since I was 13, I went to Los Angeles as a gymnast myself but I always wanted to make sure my coaching was better than my own performance.

“I wanted to give back to the sport and now philosophy is to leave the sport in a better shape than when I left it and helping out the coaches as much as possible is the best way to sustain that.”

The UK Coaching Awards honours sports coaches and coaching organisations that have demonstrated success over the previous 12 months. This year’s winners came from 11 different sports – highlighting the very best of coaching from high performance to community, from children to disability. Find out more about coaching in the UK at www.sportscoachuk.org.