Tweddle undecided
Beth Tweddle is still deciding which bars routine she will compete with in Sunday's Olympic qualifying.
Last Updated: 27/07/12 9:09am
Gymnast Beth Tweddle is still deciding which bars routine she will compete with in Sunday's Olympic qualifying, despite a near-perfect run through in the North Greenwich arena on Thursday.
The three-time world champion is training two routines with difficulty scores of 7.0 and 7.1 in a bid to claim her first Olympic gold in what will be her last Games.
Tweddle, 27, has changed the face of women's gymnastics in Great Britain since her international debut 14 years ago.
Along with her three world titles, Tweddle also has six European and seven British crowns to her name and is arguably the country's most successful gymnast of all time.
After so many years at the top, she has scaled down competing on all four pieces of apparatus to just two - the bars and floor - with a knee operation last month almost forcing her to miss the Olympics altogether.
However, the Johannesburg-born gymnast is still up there with the best and produced a complex and stunning bars routine in training on Thursday which, if she can repeat it in competition, could put her in medal contention.
Happy
Tweddle said: "I've tried out a couple [of routines]. Both of them I'm really happy with, so I've got to leave it up to my coaches to decide what they want me to go out with.
"I think the judges wonder what I'm going to do when I'm on the bar because I do have two different versions of the routine, but we're just going to play it safe with the team and see which one they need me to do. Obviously if I progress then I can make the decision.
"Every day I've been doing both routines so it's not like it will be a major issue. I have competed [with] both at different competitions."
Tweddle is also competing on the floor, although she admits the level of her performance is not up to her usual standard after recovering from knee surgery.
Floor
She added: "Floor is still not up to what I would be happy with but I made the conscious decision after my knee surgery between me and my coach to just get me here I needed a floor routine that I was happy with.
"I haven't had time to get the full difficulty for the last tumble but at the end of the day at least I'm here competing and 12 weeks ago I was worried I wouldn't be."
Imogen Cairns, one of Tweddle's Great Britain team-mates, hailed the City of Liverpool gymnast for her glittering career at the top of the sport.
Cairns said: "She's amazing. She does make our team. I say I'm old or more experienced but she's even more experienced.
"She's like a mother hen so she looks after all of us."
