BETH TWEDDLE will lead a 10-strong British team in next month’s World Gymnastic Championships at the O2 in London.
The 24-year-old has been the leading light in British gymnastics for a number of years, becoming world champion on the asymmetric bars in 2006 and finishing fourth on the same apparatus at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year.
City of Liverpool star Tweddle will be joined on the women’s team by 17-year-old Becky Downie, who finished 12th in the all-around event in Beijing – the highest ever by a British athlete – Rebecca Wing and Marissa King.
In the men’s event, Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings will lead the home medal challenge. Smith won bronze on the pommel horse in Beijing while Keatings was the all-around silver medallist at the European Championships earlier this year.
Kristian Thomas, Daniel Purvis, Theo Seager and Ruslan Panteleymonov complete the British contingent.
British Gymnastics Olympic performance director Tim Jones said: “We are pleased to have such a strong group of gymnasts available to represent Great Britain at these World Championships.
“This is a great time to be competing on home soil in the run-up to London 2012 and we will be encouraging our performers to learn from the experience.
“We will all be working as hard as possible to ensure that we maximise this opportunity.”
The World championships, the first to be held in London, begin on October 13 and finish on October 18.
