The 23-year-old, who earned bronze in the individual all-around competition earlier on at Rio 2016, delivered a near-perfect routine on the floor to take the title with a score of 15.633 ahead of Brazilian pair Diego Hypolito and Arthur Mariano, who delighted the home crowd inside the Rio Olympic Arena by securing silver and bronze respectively.

Whitlock then edged compatriot Louis Smith, who fell on the pommel horse during the men's team event, in his second apparatus final barely two hours later thanks to a formidable total of 15.966 to capp a golden afternoon for himself and for Britain.

It is rare for American sensation Simone Biles to be eclipsed but the 19-year-old had to settle for second billing behind the Briton's achievement as she vaulted her way to a third gold medal at Rio 2016 with another commanding yet elegant display.

Biles kept her pursuit of five titles in the Brazilian city alive with an average score of 15.966 after her two vaults - the second of which yielded a whopping 16.033 - to finish comfortably ahead of silver medallist Maria Pasenka of Russia, who was over 0.7 points adrift.

Bronze went the way of Switzerland's European champion Giulia Steingruber, who took full advantage of a below-par performance from North Korea's Hong Un-Jong, gold medallist on the apparatus in Beijing and a world champion in Nanjing six years later.

In the fourth apparatus final to be held today, Russia's Aliya Mustafina retained her Olympic uneven bars crown with a faultless routine, handsomely rewarded with 15.900 to end the American dominance of the women's gymnastics events at Rio 2016 so far.

Madison Kocian of the US looked visibly devastated when her score of 15.833 flashed up on the screen as she ended with silver, while 19-year-old German Sophie Schuber did enough for bronze.

There was no medal for Mustafina's compatriot Daria Spirodinova, who was part of a bizarre four-way tie for the gold medal on the tricky apparatus at last year's World Championships in Glasgow, as a fall early in her routine put paid to her hopes of a earning a spot on the podium.

But the thrilling session of artistic gymnastics belonged to Whitlock, whose success marked the first time a British athlete has won two golds on a single day at the Olympics since equestrian competitor Richard Meade at the 1972 Games in Munich.

He is also the most decorated British gymnast in Olympic history with a total of five medals.

"This has outdone all of my expectations and I am proud to say I have made history, Whitlock said.

"The Olympic Games only come around once every four years and that is what makes it so special.

"It was always going to be tough for me to medal on the floor and I knew I had to go for it so I’m delighted I managed to pull out one of my big scores. 

"I just take things as they come and that is why I could focus on the pommel horse. 

"The potential has always been there in the pommel horse but the floor was different and gold didn’t seem possible so I am so pleased."