Beth Tweddle

Elizabeth Kimberly Tweddle (born 1 April 1985) is a retired British artistic gymnast.

Renowned for her uneven bar and floor routines, she was the first female gymnast from Great Britain to win a medal at the European Championships, World Championships, and Olympic Games.

Tweddle, known for her consistency and longevity as an elite gymnast, is regarded as a pioneer of the renaissance of British gymnastics at the beginning of the twenty-first century that saw the country's gymnastics programme progress from 'also ran' to consistent global competitiveness, and along with peers such as Vanessa Ferrari of Italy and Isabelle Severino of France, helped begin a period of significant success for western European gymnasts globally.

Tweddle represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games.

Tweddle was born on 1 April 1985 in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved with her family to Bunbury, Cheshire, England when she was 18 months old.

After trying several different sports, Tweddle began competing in gymnastics at the age of seven at Crewe and Nantwich Gymnastics Club.

In 1997, she moved to the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club to train with coach Amanda Reddin.

Tweddle attended The Queen's School, Chester and completed a foundation degree with the University of Liverpool.

In July, Tweddle competed for England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom.

She placed second in the all around final with a score of 36.387.

In event finals, she placed seventh on vault scoring 8.887 and first on uneven bars scoring 9.550.

In November, Tweddle competed at the World Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

She placed fourth on uneven bars scoring 9.312.

In August, Tweddle competed at the World Championships in Anaheim, United States.

She placed third in the uneven bars final with a score of 9.512.

In October, Tweddle competed at the World Cup event in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

She placed first on uneven bars scoring 9.450 and third on balance beam scoring 8.800.

In November, Tweddle competed at the World Cup event in Stuttgart, Germany.

In 2007, she graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a degree in sports science.

She is the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist on uneven bars, the 2006 and 2010 World Champion on the uneven bars, the 2009 World Champion on floor exercise, a four-time European Champion on the uneven bars, and a two-time European Champion on the floor exercise.

She is a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, and a three-time champion in the Universiade.

She was accepted to the University of Liverpool's physiotherapy programme and began to attend after the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Tweddle is also involved with Total Gymnastics.

She said, "I have a sports science degree, and I'll be continuing my studies in the future – I have place at the University of Liverpool to study Physiotherapy in 2012. I've also started Total Gymnastics with the help of former Olympic swimmer Steve Parry. We go into schools and leisure centres to help give children a chance to try gymnastics – which I'm enjoying because so many gymnastics clubs are overbooked.".

Tweddle is a keen football fan and is a supporter of Chester F.C. She is also a patron of Alder Hey Children's Hospital charity.

At the end of October, Tweddle competed at the World Championships in Ghent, Belgium.

She helped the British team place ninth and individually she placed twenty-fourth in the all around final with a score of 34.892.

In April, Tweddle competed at the European Championships in Patras, Greece.

She helped the British team place sixth and individually she placed fourteenth in the all around final with a score of 34.242.

In event finals, she placed third on uneven bars with a score of 9.287.

This was the first medal ever won by a female British gymnast at the European Championships.

Tweddle said, "When I saw my name on the scoreboard in third place I just started to cry and couldn't stop. I'm just so happy."

Tweddle retired in August 2013.

Following retirement, Tweddle took on a variety of media and sporting work.

On 10 March 2013, she won the eighth series of Dancing on Ice along with Daniel Whiston, who won the show for the third time.

In 2014, she took part in the ninth and (at the time) last series of Dancing on Ice, the "All-Stars" series, with her new skating partner Łukasz Różycki, making the final and coming third.

In 2016, Tweddle participated in the third series of Channel 4 reality contest show The Jump.

However, on 7 February, two weeks into the show, Tweddle suffered a back injury and withdrew.

It was reported on 8 February 2016 that she had undergone successful surgery to fuse two vertebrae.

As of 2023, she remains a regular analyst on her sport for the BBC and Eurosport.