Beth Tweddle of Great Britain has finally become an Olympic medallist as it may be the final routine of her career. Tweddle took home the bronze medal with a score of 15.916 at the uneven bars after trying for about a decade an elusive Olympic medal.
The gymnast has four world titles and is the most decorated GB gymnast in the history. However, just a step back for the 27 year old on landing might have cost her higher honours.
The gold medal was claimed by Russia’s Aliya Mustafina ahead of Beijing 2008 champion Kexin He of China. Mustafina scored a massive score of 16.133 to win the title, which was a mark which Tweedle had posted in the qualifying at London 2012.
The London 2012 Olympics is expected to mark Tweddle’s final outing at this level. Beth worked hard to reach this point in a sport which usually spits out the gymnasts by their early twenties at best. The Liverpool based gymnast slept with an ice machine strapped to her leg for much of this year to calm the swelling from training. Tweddle also long ago abandoned two of the four pieces of apparatus in women’s gymnastics to preserve her fitness for the bars and the floor.
