GYMNASTICS: BETH Tweddle's hopes of a first Olympic Games medal were boosted last weekend when she collected gold and silver in a match against Russia in Liverpool.

Although the visitors were without world and Olympic champion Svetlana Khorkina Great Britain put up a strong performance headed by Tweddle's victory on the bars and runners-up spot on the beam.

The 19-year-old from Bunbury also had the highest individual total on the first day of the competition to confirm her world-class status, but she is still not assured of a place in the Great Britain team to go to Athens.

This was the penultimate trial and the team will not be named until after the British Championships at Guildford next weekend when she will be defending her all-round title.

Also competing in Guildford will be Saltney's Melanie Roberts who has now fully recovered from the arm injury which threatened to end her career.

Tweddle has pledged to continue her gymnastics career after the Olympics, aiming to defend her bars title at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, but in September she will be starting a sports science course at John Moores University in Liverpool, close to her gym in the city.

Following the games she will take part in a Grand Prix event in Glasgow which counts towards qualification for the World Championships in Birmingham at the end of this year.