Beth Tweddle talks Olympic selection
Team GB have announced the gymnastics team that will be going to Rio, so we thought we’d ask Beth Tweddle, Britain’s most successful gymnast, what it was like waiting for the call up to the Olympic squad.
"Selection for an Olympic Games is so nerve wracking. Once the trials are done and dusted there is nothing more you can do except wait for that all important phone call telling you whether you have made the team or not.
Once you have received the call, it is like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders and you are one step closer to achieving your dreams. The selection for the gymnastics team is usually very close to the actually Games, sometimes as close as 3 weeks prior to the Opening ceremony.
Once selected you receive a letter from Team GB and are invited to “kitting out” with the rest of your team.
For me this was one of the most exciting parts about becoming an Olympian. The amount of kit that you receive is fantastic. Everything ranging from tracksuit, trainers, sun cream, hats, suits and obviously your sports specific kit, which for gymnasts is our leotards. Team GB is sponsored this year by Adidas for the sportswear and Simon Jersey for the formal kit.
The gymnastics will then train as a team in the lead up to the Games, prior to London this was up at our National Centre at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.
You live on site so that all of your focus can be entirely on preparing for the Olympic Games. You will eat, sleep and train on site and have access to all the best medical services to ensure your body is in peak condition going into the Olympics.
The support that the gymnasts can access comes via The English Institute of sport and this can be anything from physiotherapists, psychologists, nutritionists and strength and conditioning.
I had access to most of these services in the lead up to London as I had surgery on my knee just 100 days prior to the Olympics starting. Without this support from British Gymnastics and the English Institute of sport I would not have made it to the Olympic Games in London."
