“I didn’t want anything to do with London 2012.”
A little over two years ago at the Beijing Olympics Great Britain’s finest ever gymnast threatened to walk away from the sport after narrowly missing out on the medals. Coming fourth in the uneven bars, at the age of 23 after 16 years training and competing, it was almost too much for the young woman, born in Johannesburg, raised in Cheshire and Merseyside.
Yet, as with several other athletes picking themselves up from disappointment in China, they knew the next Games was coming home.
In a little under two years time GB’s golden girl will be leading a resurgent team of young gymnasts, both real medal prospects in the women’s and men’s events, in front of a passionate, home crowd at London’s O2 Arena.
“Because I didn’t get that medal and the fact it is a home Games have spurred me to carry on.”
At the age of seven Beth Tweddle set out on her journey in gymnastics. By 16 she competed in her first international event. By 17 she won gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. At 21 she won gold in the European Championships and won gold in the World Championships.
Since becoming the first Britain ever to win a medal at the World and European Championships, and being considered the most successful British gymnast of all time, she has gone on to win the 2009 and 2010 World Championships on the floor and uneven bars.
Now, at just 25 years of age, the seven-time British National Champion spoke to Sport.co.uk about how she doesn’t feel the pressure of 2012 on her shoulders, why she was almost told to give up the sport she loves, the growth in popularity of men’s gymnastics, the Great Wall of China and why she’s backing Roy Hodgson to come good at Anfield.
Hi Beth. We hear you have been involved with the LG British Gymnastics competition. How have you been involved?
LG Home Appliances are working with British gymnastics to give a school or local gymnastics club the opportunity to win a visit from one of myself, [fellow GB gymnasts] Daniel Keatings or Becky Downie.
Because LG’s motto is ‘Life’s Good’ they want to bring that into schools and gyms and offer them a life experience whether it’s to meet their hero Dan or meet myself or Becky.
With the growing popularity and excitement in anticipation of 2012 do you feel an increased pressure and are you recognised everywhere? How do you deal with the attention?
I wouldn’t say I’m recognised everywhere. I would say my profile’s gone up. People do recognise me a lot more but mostly people just want to say well done for what I’ve achieved. Their little boy or girl has seen gymnastics on the TV and want to start it up themselves. Moving into 2012 that can only be a good thing because with British Olympics we want to inspire people to get involved in sport and hopefully after 2012 keep them going.
You sound very relaxed about it all. Are you not worried about the weight of expectation?
Not yet, no. I’ve still got another two years, two European Championships and another World Championship before our team has even qualified. As an individual I won’t find out until maybe May or June of 2012 so there’s a lot more to focus on rather than just looking toward the Olympics.
Obviously it is in the back of everyone’s mind. Every athlete is working toward it and wants to achieve that goal but in order to achieve that you’ve got to reach those smaller goals to get there.
How tight-knit is Team GB when at these elite tournaments? Who are your closest friends and who will you be keeping your eye on at the 2012 games?
I would definitely say the group has become a lot closer and when we’re away now everybody supports each other a lot more. The boys competition was on during one of our training sessions and we managed to move the session so we could go and watch them perform and they did the same for us which shows how close knit we are.
On the team, I’m closest to Hannah Whelan because I train with her 24/7 in Liverpool so she’s like my little sister. It’s really nice I’ve had someone there when if you’re having a bad day they can put a smile back on your face.
At 25 you’re still extremely young but have been competing at the highest level for over a decade. Have you taken it upon yourself as a senior figure to look out and guide the younger gymnasts in the team or are you still just one of the group?
I would say I’m one of the group. Obviously they all know that I’ve been to major championships before so if they’ve got any questions they know they can come and ask me – whether they think it’s the most stupid question in the world or not – they know they can trust me and are able to approach me.
You’ve competed in China, Brazil (at 2006 World Cup in Sao Paulo), Australia, America and will be performing in a transformed London in less than two years time. How do you adjust to these different cultures and climates?
You don’t really notice it. Once I’m inside a gym it’s all pretty much the same. Obviously when you’re travelling to the other side of the world you get used to the time difference but we tend to go out a week or two earlier so you can acclimatise.
In terms of embracing the culture, after the competitions we always try to make sure there is time when we can visit the main sites. In China we did the Great Wall and the other girls did Tiananmen Square but I was still training for the final. We do try and get some of the culture in but it depends on what the schedule is like.
Which memory of these diverse locations stands out?
The Great Wall because that is the one thing everyone knows about and you don’t realise how big it is until you get there. It was so busy and it just shows how popular an icon it is.
In 2008 you finished 4th in the final of the uneven bars. How did you react to coming so close to the medals? Does it inspire you for 2012?
At first I took it quite hard. In an interview I did straight afterwards I said I didn’t want anything to do with London 2012, I’d be a spectator and I definitely wouldn’t come to be competing. But within a week I was back in the gym and had 2012 in the back of my mind. I’ve never said that I’m definitely going for it. It is just a case of taking each competition as it comes but I think because I didn’t get that medal and the fact it is a home Games have spurred me to carry on.
I think a lot of athletes are the same. Half the team could have retired after Beijing but the fact that it is in London will have changed quite a few athletes’ minds.
In making that decision to carry on who was the biggest support for you?
I think it was my coach [the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic gymnast Amanda Kirby]. My mum and dad [Anne and Gerry] would support whatever decision I made. The main person that helped me is my coach because I’ve spent so much time with her. She’s in the gym 24/7 just like I am and she goes through the ups and downs with me. My parents go through the ups and downs of competition but they’re not there for the everyday training.
We caught up with Victoria Pendleton recently and she said she could barely eat before competing and couldn’t sleep or if she did she had nightmares of being chased. When you are in front of the crowd do you fear the pressure or thrive on it?
There’s two ways you can take it. You can either buckle under the pressure or you can use it to your advantage. Having the home event in London last year for the World Championship I saw both sides of it. In the bar qualification I fell off and maybe it was me putting too much pressure on myself because it was a home crowd and I wanted to impress. By the time I got to the floor final I just used the crowd to my advantage, used their screaming and cheering to give me the spur to carry on.
So no nightmares?
No. No nightmares. Not yet anyway.
Pendelton also spoke about how she doesn’t feel women are taken as seriously as the men in her sport, compared to those like Sir Chris Hoy. Have you ever felt anything similar? Or perhaps it is the other way round in gymnastics. Have you ever noticed any disparities between the competing men and women?
I think it is slightly different because gymnastics is known as a young girl’s sport and I think the boys get the harder option on our side. Usually the tickets for the girls competition sell out faster and those events seem more popular but with the results that Dan and Louis are starting to produce [Dan Keating won a silver medal in the all-around event at the 2009 Artistic World Championships at London’s O2 Arena and Louis Smith won silver medal on the pommel horse at the European Championships in Birmingham to go with his bronze in Beijing] and the pretty good crowds at the home World Championships and Europeans it shows popularity is increasing.
How is the male game growing in your eyes? Who should we look out for in the men’s game?
There’s so many at the moment. Obviously Louis got his medal in Beijing and he’s still up there on pommel, Dan Keating is unfortunately injured at the minute but he’s hoping to be back in action for the Europeans next year and then Dan Purvis just won a silver medal at the recent Grand Prix, won a bronze medal at the Europeans and the Worlds this year and so he’s definitely a young face to be looking for in 2012.
Has it changed a lot since when you were first competing?
Yeah. I think the belief inside the camp has changed. A lot of people look at our sport and when we go to competitions it’s not a case of what is Beth going to come home with but what are Great Britain going to come home with. When we’re in the training gym some of the other coaches are looking in to see what we’re doing whereas before they would think “it’s only Great Britain, we don’t need to watch them”. It has definitely changed a lot over the past 10 years.
How about in the women’s game and your disciplines in the sport. Who looks likely to be your biggest competition?
He Kexin [of China] on bars. She was reining Olympic Champion, she was World Champion on bars last year, unfortunately she fell this year but she’s not going to let that lie. She’ll definitely come back fighting. There are rumours that American Nastia Liukin [who took silver in the uneven bars after Kexin] is training, ready for 2012 and with her record from Beijing she’ll be a big threat if she can get back into competition fitness.
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At what age and how did you get into gymnastics? Do you have family pedigree in the sport?
I was seven and I was very hyperactive around the house. I basically had too much energy and my mum and dad needed to channel it into a safe environment. I tried swimming, I tried ballet, I tried horse riding and nothing really clicked. Then I did gymnastics. I was always upside down at home and even the gym training wasn’t that great. It was only when I did my first competition that I thought this is where I want to be.
What message would you say to young girls and boys wanting to get involved in gymnastics?
Find a local club. Get involved. Take a friend. Make sure you enjoy it and remember anything’s possible. A lot of people told me along the way that it wasn’t but I proved that with hard work and determination and if you’ve got a dream you want to follow then you can follow it.
I was told I was the wrong height or the wrong shape. The stereotype for gymnasts when I was younger was the small, little girl. I was a bit taller. A few people said I was too tall to be a gymnast but with gymnastics the mental side is 99 per cent of it. If you’ve got a good attitude you can still make it.
The best known gymnasts of years gone by have normally been from places like Russia or the Far East, who inspired you when you started out?
Lilia Podkopayeva. She was part of the Ukraine team and won the Olympic individual all-around – which involved the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor – at Atlanta in 1996. She was the first gymnast I watched over and over on video.
Do you enjoy competition and training? Do you still have an appetite for it after all these years of competing at the top?
I actually prefer the competitions. The training for me gets a bit tedious. It’s the hard part really whereas the competition is what you put in all the hours for and when you get out there you only have to do one routine rather than five or 10 like you do in the gym.
You were born in Johannesburg but represent England. Join the club - amongst others Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Mike Catt were all also born in South Africa. Do you feel any sense of loyalty to the Rainbow Nation or are you Great Britain through and through?
I’m proud to say I was born there. My parents brought me over here to England when I was one so I class myself as British in nationality. I still have fond memories, or video tapes to look back on from when I was in South Africa.
If you could have done another aspect of gymnastics or sport in general which one would it be?
I enjoyed swimming and athletics in the 200 metres and the long jump but never as much as gymnastics. I used to do those events at school but I just don’t have the time now. Gymnastics is my whole life.
You’ve won gold medals in both the past two European Championships and both the past two World Championships. How does it feel to be the best in the world at what you do?
It’s a feeling you can’t really put into words. With all those hours you spend in the gym you do sometimes ask yourself “why do I bother doing it?” but to stand on that podium and see your flag and hear your anthem it’s just the best feeling in the world.
Where does finishing an impressive 3rd in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award rank? You’re the only gymnast to ever make the list. Do you think you can ever do even better and upgrade to silver or gold?
Who knows? The thing with the Sports Personality is that it’s down to the public vote. For a gymnast to come third, just to be nominated and come in the top 10, is a massive achievement for the sport itself. It is so nice to have that public recognition. Obviously I’m working every day in the gym to get the prizes on offer in the gymnastics world but something like Sports Personality is a different kind of honour when the public recognise all the work you’ve been putting in.
Who do you predict will make the top three this December?
There’s a few. I’d love to see Amy Williams up there. She’s done a massive thing in winning an Olympic gold [in women’s skeleton at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver] and be the only Olympic medallist for Great Britain. The only problem is that because it was in January a lot of people will forget it was this year. I’d love to see her get the recognition she deserves for it.
Otherwise I think Tony McCoy for winning the Grand National [on Don’t Push It at his 15th attempt] – because he’s been around for a while and it was the first time he’s won it. Jess Ennis will be up there. She was third last year. Lee Westwood has obviously been named as world number one in golf so there are a lot of contenders and I think that’s a great thing about British sport. There is not just one sport that we excel in.
You mentioned an equestrian and a golfer there. Are there any other sports you have a keen interest in?
I watch football and athletics and swimming are the main ones I’ll watch on TV.
You’re based in Liverpool so the big question: who’s your team?
Liverpool...
It’s been an interesting season for the Reds so far. How do you feel they’re getting on?
They didn’t have a great start but Roy Hodgson’s come in and hopefully he can turn it around.
You’re backing him to stay?
For the minute, yes.
Where would be a good finish for them?
I would say back up in the top four but it’s hard with the season we’ve started off with. There’s still another half to go so who knows.
With your experience in gymnastics do you notice any acrobatic moves borrowed from the floor in the Premiership with players’ balletic dives and dramatics?
Well I don’t really know...No comment.
We read that you attended Liverpool John Moores University and graduated with a Sports Science degree in 2007, as well as running for students’ union president. How did you enjoy university life?
I didn’t run for students’ union president actually, I didn’t have time to. I loved university and I miss it now. I caught up with my uni friends at the weekend and we were saying how much we miss it. You always had someone there to hang out with and obviously there are the nights out. It’s just a great part of your life.
Did you find yourself indulging in typical student activities – sitting on the couch watching Countdown and only leaving the house in daylight hours for milk and Shreddies?
My training came first and whatever I could fit in around that was a bonus. I had to make sure my priorities were set.
Maybe that was only us then...Is it right your birthday is on 1 April? Any funny April Fools moments?
I’ve had a couple of cardboard boxes wrapped up but nothing major.
How cruel! Now retirement. Perhaps you don’t want to think about that word but is there a point on the horizon when you would consider it?
2012!
How are you going to go out?
I don’t know. I’m just going to take it when it comes and see what happens.
I imagine you’ll hopefully be going out with a gold medal...
Yep. That would be lovely.