BY the age of 24 most top gymnasts have long since hung up their leotard but retirement is far from Beth Tweddle’s thoughts. The City of Liverpool star admits her stunning triumph in the floor event at the recent World Championships in London’s 02 Arena has strengthened her resolve to push on towards London 2012. An Olympic medal is the only major accolade to elude her during a remarkable career and if she could complete the set at home in three years time it would be the perfect farewell. Tweddle intends to review her progress on a yearly basis but having just enjoyed the finest victory of her career plans to start a degree in physiotherapy have been put on hold. “I never dreamt I could win gold in the floor and it’s the best feeling in the world,” she said. “I’m taking each step as it comes but I’d love to be there in 2012 competing for Team GB. “To compete in an Olympics is the best feeling ever and for it to be in your own country would be even better. “As long as I’m still producing the results, I’m happy and my body is still going then I’ll continue. “I’ve got the Europeans at the NIA in Birmingham next April and then the Worlds in Rotterdam. I’ll definitely be up for that. “I’m hoping my best is yet to come and hopefully my best result will come at the Olympics.” When the Olympics come to London Tweddle will be 27 but she insists age will be no barrier to her hopes of a place on the rostrum. “Can a 27-year-old win an Olympic medal? Definitely,” she insisted. “Oksana Chusovitina won silver for Germany in the vault at the Olympics last year and she was a 32-year-old with a child. “If she can do that, then why can’t I win a medal at 27?” Tweddle endured a rollercoaster of emotions at the Worlds. A fall on the uneven bars meant she failed to make the final of her specialist discipline but she shrugged off that setback to produce an extraordinary display on the floor. “It was a really up and down week for me,” she said. “After coming off the bars I just took myself off to my room and did my own thing. The following day my coach said we wouldn’t be training that day. “I didn’t set foot in the gym and instead I went off shopping in Oxford Street. It was mainly to keep me away from people as if I had gone back in the gym everyone would have been asking me if I was okay and it would have just kept bringing it up. “My coach (Amanda Kirby) just wanted me to put it all behind me and forget about it so I had the day off and then watched Dan Keatings in the evening. “His silver medal really spurred me on to perform well in the floor final.” | 
