Two Golds for Tweddle
Double Gold Success for Gymnast at the World University Games
© Kim Ford
Jul 12, 2009
The University of Liverpool student received her first gold in the Women’s Uneven Bars with a score of 15.750 ahead of Korea’s Yong Hwa Cha in second with 15.575 and Yuyuan Jiang in third with 15.200.
A few hours later the gymnast was awarded her second gold of the games when the judges gave her a score of 14.850 for her performance on the floor. Second was Yuyuan Jiang with 14.325 followed by her Chinese team mate Ning He in third with 14.100.
Tweddle went into the finals after qualifying with the top scores.
Tweddle said: “I am delighted to win two Gold medals at the World University Games. The feeling of winning medals for your Country is amazing and something I am very proud of. Being at University has enabled me to train in some of the best facilities in the country, and competing at the World University Games is an invaluable experience as I prepare for London 2012.”
Tweddle’s Career
Tweddle is arguably Britain’s most successful gymnast of all time after becoming the first British gymnastic world champion in 2006 when she received the gold medal for her performance in the Asymmetric Bars. She was also placed fourth in the floor exercise at the same World Championships in Denmark.
She graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2007 with a sports science degree and is now a Health Studies student at the University of Liverpool. The athlete is planning to become a physiotherapist when she retires from gymnastics.
Tweddle said: “I have been lucky that both universities have been very supportive of all my training. They know that I want to succeed both academically and in my sport. I can not wait to show them my medals!”
The 24 year old took part in the games along with 196 athletes and officials from Great Britain. Over 8000 athletes from universities in 140 countries around the world have been competing in Serbia’s capital city. Today marks the end of the 13 day event which featured 11 sports.
Gymnastics Results from the World University Games
The women’s team final took place on 2 July followed by the men’s team final on 3 July. The men’s and women’s all round finals took place on 4 July and all other individual events took place on 5 July. Beth Tweddle was among seven multi-medallists in gymnastics at the games.
Women’s team:
Gold: China
Silver: Russia
Bronze: Korea
Men’s team:
Gold: Japan
Silver: Russia
Bronze: China
Women’s all-round: Yuyuan Jiang
Men’s all-round: Yosuke Hoshi
Men’s Floor: Soo Myun Kim
Women’s Vault: Un Jong Hong
Men’s Pommel Horse: Krisztian Hun Berki
Women’s Uneven Bars: Elizabeth Tweddle
Men’s Rings: Alexander Balandin
Men’s Vault: Flavius Kosczi
Men’s Parallel Bars: Cyril Tommasonne
Women’s Beam: Yuyuan Jiang
Men’s High Bars: Ji Hoon Kim
Women’s Floor: Elizabeth Tweddle
