European Icon: British pioneer Beth Tweddle

Born on 1 April 1985 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Beth Tweddle made a big name for herself – and for British Gymnastics- in an illustrious gymnastics career. Renowned for her uneven bars and floor skills, Tweddle became the first female artistic gymnast from Great Britain to win a medal at both the European and World Championships, and at the Olympic Games!  

“So I first started gymnastics when I was seven years old. I'd tried a lot of other sports”, Tweddle confided in us. “My family were very sporty, mainly hockey, so I grew up with a hockey stick in my hands. And then my mom and dad were keen to introduce me to lots of other sports as well. I did ballet, swimming, gymnastics, horse riding, and gymnastics was just the one that kind of took me. I just loved it. Especially after my first competition, I was thinking ‘that's my sport, that's the one I enjoy the most’. I love flipping. I love being upside down most of the time at home and just basically causing carnage. I think my parents just breathing a sigh of relief that they had find found a sport to channel the energy that I had because I was very, very energetic. I was walking from 10 months and just basically under their feet and causing mayhem. They were pleased to find something that I loved. My mum said I was climbing on absolutely anything and anything that I could kind of get my hands on.”

That first competition, the one that ignited the spark, Tweddle remembers fondly: “It was a school's competition, so it was just floor and vault. I was competing with a few friends from school, but it was arranged through my gymnastics club, so I was in my own environment. And I do remember it very clearly and I just loved. I loved performing."

“I think my parents would absolutely credit gymnastics as one of the things that really brought me out of my shell. It gave me a lot more confidence as a child”, Tweddle admits. “At first it was mainly just within the gymnastics environment that it was a lot more confident. To this day, I do corporate speaking. I go in front of hundreds of kids at a time. That would have been my worst nightmare as a child. Gymnastics has definitely taught me how to be confident, how to perform in front of people. And that's one of the things I say to people now if they're thinking about getting their children involved in the sport is obviously they're going to learn the skills of gymnastics. But actually it's the wider skills that children can learn from doing gymnastics. And one of those is definitely confidence.”

Tweddle left her mark on gymnastics, not only in Great Britain but on the worldwide stage as a true pioneer. The journey was an unexpected one, and her hunger and drive for international recognition came gradually. “I wasn't a gymnast that had watched the Olympics and aspired that's what I wanted to do. I did gymnastics from day one right through to when I retired, and even now, as a career because I love the sport. I love everything that it can provide for you. Did it ever change from being a hobby? I absolutely would say no because each day yes, it was hard when you're competing at elite level. And obviously there was a lot of travel. There was a lot of training. But I still loved what I did. And on those odd occasions where you were picking up injuries or having a disappointment, I always went back to my why. ‘Why do I do what I do?’ And it's absolutely because I loved gymnastics. Was there a moment that I realised that I could probably take it to another level?”, Tweddle thinks about the turning point.

Since those 2002 Europeans, the annual European Championships marked a crucial point in Tweddle’s calendar: “[The European Championships] were so important. Every six months I had a major tournament and I was constantly working towards that. Europeans was always one of those key moments off the calendar in the year that I would be prepping towards. It allowed me to kind of see where I was in my preparation for world champs at the end of the year or the Olympics. So Europeans, I always held very high on the calendar to be able to test where I was at. And each of those medals meant so much to me. And obviously I wrote the history books a few times. Each time meant just as much to me for what I achieved, and I think 2010 Europeans being in Birmingham, being in your home country, that meant a lot, because a lot of my family and friends were there and just being able to kind of showcase the hard work and the preparation that you do and then for it to all come together. Not only on an individual status, but also as a team. That was my first team medal and that did mean a lot.”

For many gymnasts the transition from the junior to the senior level is quite a daunting experience. Not so much for Tweddle as she credits her life-long coach for the stability. “I had the same coach from the age of 12 all the way through to when I retired, Amanda [Reddin]. She took me on at 12 years old and she's honestly said I wasn't necessarily the most talented gymnast that she had ever worked with, but she could see something in me. I was willing to work hard. I had that motivation within myself and that goal to want to be the best gymnast that I could be. So it was always the same team around me, the main person being Amanda as my personal coach. My parents, obviously up until I passed my driving test, were my taxi service, and the financial support and also the emotional support and then British Gymnastics and the support mechanism around that with the medical setup, psychological setup, if you needed it. So yeah, I was very lucky that actually my team didn't drastically changed throughout my whole career and that I think helped me because people understood who I was, how I worked, how I trained best, how to get the best out of me. So I think that really played into my favour that I kept a very similar team, obviously some of the key people change whether it was physios or doctors. But Amanda was the key constant throughout my career.”

The balance of motivation versus talent often comes up in elite sports conversations. Tweddle has her own take on it: “I think it's something of a combination and self-drive, I was constantly wanting to better myself. I'm naturally a perfectionist, so if there was a challenge there, I was wanting to achieve it and not only achieve it, but achieve it to the best of my ability. So I think it definitely requires a combination [of motivation and talent]. But it's working to that individual, understanding what is it that makes them tick. What is their drive? Amanda very quickly understood how I worked as an individual. And how to get the best out of me to be able to achieve the best results.”

After more than a decade of competing on the highest level internationally, Tweddle participated in her third Olympic Games. This time though, the Olympics were held on home soil, in London.

Tweddle remembers the London 2012 vibe well: “There's branding everywhere, anywhere you go. You see the London 2012 logo. So as an athlete preparing for it, it's constantly in your face. I didn't necessarily have the preparation I would have wanted going into London, having surgery 100 days prior, missing the European Championships. But I do believe everything happens for a reason and actually in hindsight, did that help? I was able to kind of fly under the radar. I was preparing behind the scenes because I wasn't able to compete. I was barely able to walk at the [time of the] Europeans. Let alone perform any routines. I think that did help with my preparation and going into that games. I'm normally quite calm and relaxed about competitions, but I was nervous for that one. I knew it was my last attempt to get that Olympic medal and obviously finishing fourth in Beijing, I knew exactly how that felt and I didn't want that feeling again. So I was nervous going into it but I was also excited. The crowds, the support - it was incredible. Like when you walked into the hall. The noise, the flags, the banners, the effort people had gone to to support the British athletes was incredible, and that's the one thing I'm missing now. I miss that atmosphere of walking into a stadium and that buzz, that roar. I hold that day with so many fond memories. My family, my friends, there were so many people there watching who had managed to get tickets at the last minute or had had tickets for ages. I think the crazy thing is now like, even when I'm walking around, people will come up to me and say, well done for the medal and they can tell me where they were. Now! We're nearly thirteen years later and people still remember London 2012. They still remember what they were doing during that summer, which for any normal summer, I don't think anyone would be able to tell you exactly what they were doing. I think that shows the impact that London 2012 had on people.”

Like many athletes, Tweddle not always fully realised the magnitude of her achievements, especially that Olympic medal: “If I go and do a school event or visit a local gym club and I take my medal with me and just the impact of handing the medal over to someone and the weight of it and people are like, Oh my gosh, that's actually what you won. It's not a replica and you're like ‘No no that's the one.’

“There were a lot of opportunities that were presented”, Tweddle opens up about the opportunities that arose after London 2012. “I mean, doing ‘Dancing on Ice’ was a cool thing. I always loved watching it. So to actually have the opportunity to perform in it and do 2 series was great and to get to go on tour with it. I'd obviously achieved a lot in gymnastics, but after that Games you went around London the week after the gymnastics finished and literally you couldn't go anywhere. People were stopping you, wanting to congratulate you and just recognising you. It was quite surreal for the gymnastics team because that wasn't something that we'd never really experienced. Even now people still recognise you for what you did 13 years ago. But yeah, I've been lucky with the opportunities.” And Tweddle takes full advantage of opportunities that come her way. “I can never walk away from gymnastics. I've still heavily involved, whether it's through coverage for the TV, and having my own business ‘Gymfinity Kids’. That's my main passion now, working with children. Hopefully making them believe that they can also achieve their dreams. We work with 16,000 children a week, giving them the opportunity to have a go at gymnastics, ninja or dance. And that just brings a smile to my face every day. I don't feel like I'm getting up and going to work. I feel like I'm doing what I love. So I guess gymnastics opened that door. The results that I had opened that door to allow me to combine my 2 passions of gymnastics and working with children. So in that sense, although I'm in a completely different chapter in my life, I still feel like gymnastics is a huge part of that chapter.”

Thanks Beth, you’ll always stay a part of gymnastics history. Best of luck with your next chapters!