Gymnastics: Beth Tweddle takes double gold on home soil

BETH Tweddle was energised by the support of the British crowd as she claimed double gold on the final day of the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham yesterday.

Tweddle won uneven bars and floor gold medals in Milan 12 months ago and successfully defended both titles at the National Indoor Arena.

A flawless uneven bars routine saw the 25-year-old triumph with a score of 15.875, winning by a margin of 0.825 for a third European title on the apparatus.

Tweddle then scored 14.825 to win by 0.500 on the floor, the event in which she is world champion.

Tweddle also claimed team silver yesterday alongside Becky Downie, 16-year-old Niamh Rippin and 15-year-olds Nicole Hibbert and Jocelyn Hunt.

Tweddle has had mixed results on the uneven bars due to the difficulty of her routines.

She was world and European champion in 2006, finished fourth at the Beijing Olympic Games and fell as she attempted to reclaim the world title in London last October.

She laid those demons to rest with an excellent display to win comfortably from Russia's Aliya Mustafina and the Ukraine's Nataliya Kononenko. Downie scored 14.625 to finish fifth.

Tweddle said: "Having the home crowd kind of got me through. I had to use all the energy I had."