| Beth Tweddle | |
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 Tweddle at the 2012 Olympic Games | |
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Full name |
Elizabeth Kimberly Tweddle |
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Country represented |
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Born |
April 1 1985 |
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Years on National Team |
1994-2012 |
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Club |
City of Liverpool Gymnastics |
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Coach(es) |
Amanda Reddin |
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Current status |
Retired |
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Elizabeth "Beth" Kimberly Tweddle (born 1 April 1985) is a retired South African-born 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. She is also a seven-time British National Champion, having won the title every year between 2001 and 2007.
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. She was raised in Bunbury, Cheshire, England. Tweddle began competing in gymnastics at the age of seven 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. Tweddle won the British senior National Championships for the first time in 2001. Tweddle was a member of the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club team, which has won the British Team Championships five times. Tweddle attended the Queens School in Chester.
Gymnastics Career
2001
Tweddle's first major senior international competition was the 2001 World Championships, placing 24th in the all-around and ninth in the team event.
2002
In 2002 Tweddle won a bronze medal on the uneven bars at the 2002 European Artistic Gymnastic Championships (European Championships) in Patras, Greece, the first medal won by a British gymnast at a European Championship. At the 2002 World Championships, Tweddle finished fourth on the uneven bars whilst at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, she won the all-around event and the uneven bars and finished second in the team event.
2003
In 2003 Tweddle won a bronze on the uneven bars at the World Championships, becoming the first female British gymnast ever to medal at a World Championships.
2004
In 2004, Tweddle won a silver medal on the uneven bars and placing fifth with the British team at the European Championships. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Tweddle finished eleventh in the team competition and nineteenth in the all-around. At the 2004 World Cup finals in Birmingham, Tweddle won a silver medal on the uneven bars and placed fifth on floor.
2005
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. Due to injury sustained during the uneven bars, Tweddle withdrew from floor competition.
2006
Tweddle missed the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to injury, but later in the year won the gold medal on the uneven bars at the European Championships. Her victory was the first at a European Championships for a British gymnast.
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, ahead of 2005 World Champion Nastia Liukin despite having only qualified in fifth place and having fallen from the bars in the all-around. Tweddle also finished fifth in the floor finals. At the final major competition of 2006, the World Cup final, Tweddle won the uneven bars.
2007
Tweddle won her seventh consecutive British National Championship title in July 2007. 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 in all events.
2008
At the 2008 European Championships in April, Tweddle won a silver medal on the floor and placed fourth on the uneven bars.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Tweddle finished 4th on the uneven bars with a score of 16.625.
2009
At the 2009 European Championships, Tweddle won gold medals on both floor exercise and bars. Tweddle also won both events at the Glasgow Grand Prix.
At the 2009 World Championships held in London Tweddle failed to qualify to the uneven Bars final, but won the Floor competition.
2010
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.
2011
Tweddle was named to the British team for the World Championships in Tokyo. Although she did not make the uneven bars final, she did cleanly perform an upgraded routine in the team final.
2012
Tweddle competed at the Doha World Cup, where she won gold on uneven bars.
Tweddle underwent knee surgery in early May. She recovered in time to compete at the British Olympic Trials, where she had the highest score on the uneven bars. She went on to compete at the British National Championships. Although she did not compete full difficulty on her routines, she had the highest scores on uneven bars throughout the competition.
On July 4th, Tweddle was named to the British team for the Olympic Games.
During qualifications, Tweddle competed on floor and uneven bars for the British team. She qualified in first for the uneven bars event final.
During the team final, Tweddle continued to compete on bars and floor. Her score on uneven bars (15.833) was the highest score of the night on that event. The British team finished sixth in the team final.
In the uneven bars final, Tweddle performed fifth. She scored a 15.916 and won the bronze, after taking a few steps on her dismount, behind Russia's Aliya Mustafina and China's He Kexin. Tweddle is the first female British gymnast to win an Olympic medal.
After the uneven bars final, she had an interview where she expressed that she does not want to go to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She officially announced her retirement in August 2013.[1]
In February 2016, she participated in a British reality skiing show, The Jump. She suffered a bad crash, sustained a very serious injury, and was airlifted to a hospital for surgery.[2] She was discharged from the hospital ten days later.[3]
Floor Music
2004 - "Another Cha-Cha" by Santa Esmeralda
2005-2007 - "El Conquistador" by Maxine Rodriguez
2010 - "Psychological Recovery... 6 Months"/ "Data, Data, Data"/ "Discombobulate" from Sherlock Holmes
2012 - "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney & Wings