Tweddle hoping 2008 can be her best year yet

Dec 7 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

IT may have been a quiet season considering her incredibly high standards but there’s no doubting were Beth Tweddle’s future ambitions lie – adding another Olympic title to her name.

Just last week, Beth arrived back in Britain after travelling to China with the Great Britain Olympic squad.

Merseysider Beth’s mission was to check the facilities of the training camp they will use before the Beijing Olympics 2008.

Britain’s most successful gymnast may have had a quiet 2007, but she did recently add another medal to her already dynamic anthology by claiming gold at the Glasgow Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old dominated the floor at last month’s Glasgow event to end the season on a high after a somewhat frustrating year.

Tweddle made an uncharacteristic error on her favoured asymmetric bars but rallied back strongly and beat off gymnasts from all over the globe in the floor event to take gold.

Beth said of the dramatic win, “I went for broke with my bars routine because I wasn’t happy with my qualifying routine.

“I went to the training room to forget about the bars and put everything out of my mind.

“I went on to the floor to prove to everyone that I had got over the disappointment and could still perform.”

The win in Glasgow fired the gymnast back into the headlines after a relatively low-key 2007, despite the recent triumph in Glasgow.

Beth’s performances in 2006 resulted in her being propelled into third place at the Sport’s personality of the year, voted for by the public. This year was slightly different; she managed to come second in Europe on the floor but at the World Championships she made a couple of mistakes and just missed out on a medal.

Her coach, Amanda Kirby commented on her year so far saying: “We had a good chat about things as she was very disappointed at the end of the season, but you just cannot be on a high the whole time, the body and mind has to drop a little bit at times.”

Next year Beth will tackle the European Championship in April followed by the British Championships and then of course the Olympics.

Amanda is confident about Beth’s forthcoming tasks saying: “Coaches and gymnasts know she is a threat. It was not meant to be this year but we are focusing on what’s happening next year, if it happens, great, if it doesn’t it isn’t the end of the world.”

Beth is now back at her base, the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club, where her training consists of a 36-hour week, all paid for by the National Lottery fund awarded by UK Sport.

It pays Beth monthly to train and compete. Also provided is a lifestyle manager and essentials like nutritional advice which is funded through the English Institute of Sport (EIS).

The intense training regime is in place for all competitions but the figurehead is Beijing 2008. “I have nothing to lose. I’ve done more than I ever thought I would in gymnastics,” said Beth.

“If I keep training as hard as I can over the next eight months and do my best on the day then if it happens it happens, and if it doesn’t, well it doesn’t,” she added.

Coach and ex-Olympic gymnast Amanda said, “It is another big competition, and we are treating it just the same as any other. Lots of hard work will go into it just like any other major championship. At the end of the day you have to put your hand up to the judges and perform.”

Despite the manic schedule Beth is to retire either after the Beijing Olympics or in the following September of 2009. She is currently studying a sports massage course in Manchester and is hoping to study a physiotherapy degree at Liverpool University when she says goodbye to the leotard.

The coveted athlete, who hails from Bunbury, Cheshire, has been competing as a gymnast since the age of seven and regardless of what 2008 and beyond brings for Beth Tweddle I am sure her legacy as Britain’s greatest gymnast will not be surpassed for some time.