Beth Tweddle revealed her desire to represent Britain at the 2012 Olympics following her success at the world gymnastics championships.
World gymnastics gold-medallist hopeful for Olympics
Beth Tweddle has revealed her desire to represent Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics following her gold medal success at the world gymnastics championships.
The 24-year-old bagged her second world title on the floor at the O2 Arena in London after previously claiming gold on the asymmetric bars in 2006, and is hoping to return to the venue in three years' time.
"I'll be 27. I'm taking each competition as it comes," Tweddle said.
"I'd love to represent Team GB at the home Olympics - the crowd this weekend were absolutely fantastic and because it's the Olympics, it will be 10 times better.
"I'd love to be in there in 2012, but to be honest the decision will probably be made in 2012. If I'm still enjoying it and I'm still up there competing well then hopefully I'll be there."
Tweddle also commented that the sport's age barrier is not as restrictive as it used to be and hopes that by concentrating on just two pieces of apparatus she can perfect her performance ahead of the London Games.
"Gymnastics is changing now, it used to be about 15 and 16-year-olds but the age barrier is moving up now," said Tweddle.
"(Oksana) Chusovitina, who represented Germany at the Olympics last year, was 32 and won an Olympic silver, so it is possible.
"I've always wanted to be remembered as someone who achieved something, not someone who achieved and then failed, so if my results start to decrease I'll obviously make the decision with my coach and my family that maybe it's time to bow out.
"I've retired from two pieces of apparatus, I just do the bars and the floor now, and that has helped a lot over the past year.
"So hopefully in the next two years, if I just concentrate on those two, my body will hold out and I'll continue to succeed."
Success
Tweddle, who secured the world title despite missing out on the final in her preferred bars after falling while performing her signature move, admits that the second title holds more weight than her success in 2006.
"Obviously I am known on bars from my signature move," she said.
"But I missed out on qualifying for the final and obviously was quite disappointed with that result and just had to look forward to the floor final.
"I had nothing to lose going into that so just went out and enjoyed it. It probably means more winning that world title than it did winning the bar world title."
Rivals were unable to surpass Tweddle's score which was a result of a difficult tumbling routine, combined with a near-flawless execution.
"The routine itself hasn't changed that much in the past couple of years," added Tweddle.
"The main thing that has changed is the leap combinations, which is the special requirement.
"When you add turns to the leaps, it adds difficulty. I did one with a one-and-a-half turn, which is the highest difficulty you can get."
