CHESHIRE'S Beth Tweddle confirmed her position as Merseyside's undoubted woman athlete of the year, by finishing second on the asymmetric (uneven) bars in the final of the World Cup at Birmingham over the weekend.
Beth, who is now a scholarship holder at the John Moores University, scored an impressive 9.612 points, a mere .012 points behind the winner, C Memmel, from the United States, to confirm her world class talent.
Rather surprisingly, Beth was also given a wild card to take part in the final on the floor, where she had to compete against some of the most spectacular performers since the days of the great Nellie Kim.
She has rarely won a floor event at the top level, simply because a girl has to be almost waif-like to succeed, but performed very creditably this time to finish fifth with a total of 9.55 points.
Beth Tweddle had an unlucky time in the recent Olympics, but picked up numerous medals elsewhere, and finished overall winner in the match beetween Britain and Russia, held at Liverpool earlier in the year.
She is now going flat out for the next Commonweatlth Games and has long-term hopes of competing creditably at the Beijing Olympics, so long as she manages to avoid suffering any serious injuries.
Her success has also rubbed off on the Liverpool gymnastic centre, managed by Gary Kirby.
The Liverpool centre produced an Olympic men's medallist in Neil Thomas several years back, but is more female orientated these days.
