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Tweddle denied medal in uneven bars

18/08/2008

Gymnast Beth Tweddle has narrowly missed out on a medal in the uneven bars at the Beijing Olympics as she finished fourth.

Tweddle, who was the world and European champion on the uneven bars in 2006, scored 16.625 - meaning she missed out by 0.025 points despite recording the highest level of difficulty ever seen for a bars routine.

Chinese gymnast He Kexin grabbed gold courtesy of a tiebreaker over the United States' Nastia Liukin after both girls scored 16.725.

Another Chinese gymnast Yilin Yang took the bronze with a score of 16.650.

Tweddle was ruled out of the vault and beam events because of injury but deemed herself fit for the bars, as well as the floor discipline last week.

And despite missing out by the slimmest of margins, the 23-year-old claimed she was pleased with her performance.

"I gave it my all. I had one dream - to make an Olympic final - and I've done that," she told the BBC afterwards.

"Hopefully the younger generation can take inspiration from this, build on it and better it in the future."

Tweddle also played down reports she is now set to retire, although she stopped short of saying she will look to compete in London 2012.

"I'll go home and have some time off," she continued.

"I'll go and chill, go on holiday and then get back to work. I'm a bit gutted but this time last week I was pleased just to be in the final."