GYMNASTICS: A PAIR of South Cheshire gymnasts are experiencing the highs and lows of the sport after the final trials for next month's Olympic Games.

Bunbury's Beth Tweddle confirmed her place in the Great Britain squad for Athens when she was crowned GB champion for the fourth successive year in Surrey on Saturday.

But while Beth prepares her bid for glory in Greece, Rebecca Mason is coming to terms with seeing her own Olympic dream end in heartbreak.

Rebecca, from Sandbach, was forced to miss the trials with a wrist injury and is now contemplating her future in the sport.

It is a devastating blow for the 18-year-old, who must surely rank as one of the unluckiest women in British sport after also being forced to sit out the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester with a knee injury.

She had played a major part in helping the GB team reach the Olympics with some stunning displays in the crucial qualifier in Anaheim last year.

Peter Aldous, who coaches Rebecca at Sandbach Gymnastics Club, said: 'It's desperately hard on Rebecca and everyone who has worked with her. This isn't an easy time for her.

'It has been an all-round long job to prepare for the Olympics. She has had a wrist injury for a while and a couple of months ago she had an operation on it in case it was ligament or bone. We were quite happy she would be ready but it just hasn't healed in time.

'It's really tough because Rebecca will look at the GB team and know where she would have ranked in it. She was the top points scorer at the World Championships last year.'

Rebecca's dad Paul said: 'Rebecca was heartbroken and is just about getting over it now - a bit.

'She has won every title she could apart from the British seniors and she is bound to be looking at Beth and saying 'That could be me'.

'After the World Cup last year she was bubbling, but it was after that the trouble started.

'The injury would not clear up, so eight weeks ago we took the gamble on a keyhole op, but it didn't cure the problem.' Rebecca is now weighing up her future in the sport.

Aldous added: 'The important thing now is for Rebecca to get herself fully fit. She may decide to give it another go for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006. She will be 20 then and she would only need a year to prepare. Some of the top Russian girls are competing in their mid-20s these days, so it's not impossible.'

Meanwhile, Commonwealth bars champion Beth continued her build-up to the Games by claiming a personal best tally of 37 points on her way to becoming a quadruple British champion.

She won the asymmetric bars and floor events and also finished second on the beam.

Mum Anne said: 'I think it was the best ever British Championship in terms of quality - everybody was competitive.

'Beth was especially pleased with the floor exercise. She was given a start value of 10 for the first time and was happy with her performance.'

Beth, 19, who started her career at Crewe and Nantwich Gymnastics Club, will join up with the rest of the British squad for a pre-Olympics training camp in Barcelona on July 21.

The Olympics take place between August 14 and 29.