Beth Tweddle

Elizabeth "Beth" Kimberly Tweddle MBE (born 1 April 1985) is an English gymnast. Tweddle is a three time world champion having won the 2010 World Championships and 2006 World Championshipson the uneven bars and the 2009 World Championships on the floor. Tweddle was the first gymnast from Britain ever to win a medal at the World and European Championships, and is considered to be the most successful British gymnast of all time.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} She is also a seven-time British National Champion, having won the title every consecutive year between 2001 and 2007.^[7]

Background

Tweddle was born in Johannesburg, South Africa where her father was temporarily employed, and moved to England with her family when she was 18 months old.^[8] She was raised in Bunbury, Cheshire, England. Tweddle began competing in gymnastics at the age of seven^[4] at a local club (Hartford School of Gymnastics), and was named to the British junior national team in 1994. In 1997, she moved to the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club. Tweddle trains alongside other British gymnasts, such as Hannah Whelan.^[9] Tweddle won the British senior National Championships for the first time in 2001.^[6] Tweddle was a member of the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club team, which has won the British Team Championships five times.^[10] Tweddle attended the Queens School in Chester.

Gymnastics career

Tweddle's first major senior international competition was the 2001 World Championships, placing 24th in the all-around and ninth with the British team.^[11] Tweddle's performance improved in 2002, winning a bronze medal on the uneven bars at the 2002 European Artistic Gymnastic Championships (European Championships) in Patras, Greece. The medal was the first for a British gymnast at a European Championship.^[3][12] At the 2002 World Championships, Tweddle finished fourth on the uneven bars. Tweddle also participated at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, winning the all-around event and the uneven bars and finishing second in the team event.^[13] In 2003 Tweddle competed at the World Championships winning a bronze on the uneven bars and becoming the first British gymnast ever to medal at Worlds.^[3][14]

In 2004, Tweddle competed at the European Championships, winning a silver medal on the uneven bars and placing fifth with the British team. Tweddle was selected to compete as part of the British team at the Athens Olympics,^[11][15] and finished eleventh in the team competition and nineteenth in the all-around.^[11] At the 2004 World Cup finals in Birmingham, Tweddle earned a silver medal on the uneven bars and placed fifth on floor.^[11]

During the 2005 season, Tweddle withdrew from the European Championships through injury, after qualifying in the top eight for all events. At the 2005 World Championships, Tweddle finished fourth in the floor and third in uneven bars.^[16] Due to injury sustained during the uneven bars, Tweddle withdrew from floor competition.

Tweddle was named as the team captain for the English squad at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but was forced to withdraw from the competition after sustaining an ankle injury in training.^[16] Tweddle competed in the 2006 European Championships, winning a gold medal on bars. The victory was the first at the European Championships for a British gymnast.^[3]

In October 2006, Tweddle became Britain's first ever gymnastics World Champion by winning the uneven bars event with a score of 16.200 in the 2006 World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark,^[17] ahead of 2005 World Champion Nastia Liukin. The performance was all the more remarkable because Tweddle had previously been less than perfect on bars in the competition: Tweddle qualified in fifth place and had fallen in the all-around. Tweddle performed a high difficult scoring routine without fault, scoring the highest at the championship. Tweddle also performed cleanly in floor finals to finish fifth. At the final major competition of 2006, the World Cup final, Tweddle won the uneven bars.^[11]

Tweddle won her seventh consecutive British National Championship title in July 2007.^[7] Later in the year, she competed with the British team at the 2007 World Championships, helping them to qualify a full team to the 2008 Olympics, but placed out of the medals on all events.^[11][18] At the Glasgow Grand Prix in November, errors on bars led to a low placement, Tweddle placed first on floor.^[4][19]

At the 2008 European Championships in April, Tweddle won a silver medal on the floor exercise and placed fourth on bars.^[20] At the British National Championships Tweddle only competed in the uneven bars due to an ankle injury.

Tweddle was selected for the British team for the 2008 Olympics.^[15][21] Tweddle competed in the uneven bars and floor at the Olympics, and qualified for the bars event final. In the final, she competed the most difficult bars routine of the Games and placed 4th with a score of 16.625.^[22]

At the 2009 European Championships, Tweddle won gold medals on both floor exercise and bars.^[23] Tweddle also won both events at the Glasgow Grand Prix.^[24]

At the 2009 World Championships held in London Tweddle failed to qualify to the uneven Bars final, but won the Floor competition.^[25]

Tweddle again took two gold medals at the 2010 European Championship in Birmingham, retaining both floor and bars titles. The British team, of which she was part, also won silver in the team competition.

At the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam, in a reverse of her performance at the World Championships in 2009, Tweddle failed to qualify for the floor final, but won the gold medal in the uneven Bars final. Tweddle was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.^[26]

Other activities

Tweddle graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a degree in Sports Science in 2007.^[6] After retiring, she plans to become a physiotherapist.^[2] During her time at Liverpool John Moores University, Tweddle ran an unsuccessful campaign to become Students' Union president.

As a result of her success in international gymnastics, Tweddle was nominated for, and finished in third place, for the 2006 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the only British gymnast ever to make the short list for the award.^[27]

Competitive history

Results as per Tweddle's official competition record at the International Gymnastics Federation athlete profile page.^[11]

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

References

External links

• Official website
• Beth Tweddle at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Students interview Beth Tweddle