Tweddle on road to recovery
Beth Tweddle is making a speedy recovery from the knee injury that ruled her out of the European Championships, according to British Gymnastics performance director Tim Jones.
The 27-year-old three-time world champion underwent minor knee surgery last month and was left out of the Great Britain squad for the tournament, which will be held in Brussels next week. She is already back in training and is practising her full bars routine, although she has not resumed training on her other piece of apparatus, the floor.
Jones is confident Tweddle will make a full recovery in time for the Olympic trials, saying: "Everybody has seen she is here. She's not hobbling around, she's in good shape and she's working out, so we're confident we can get her in good shape for London."
He added: "The European title is one she's won more than once so there was no point to prove there. Obviously the long game with Beth is getting her into full shape and full fitness for London."
There is also good news for the men's squad, as Dan Keatings and Sam Oldham, who both missed out on selection for this month's men's European Championships, are both closing in on being fully fit.
Oldham is working his way back to fitness after injuring his shoulder before the World Championships last November, while 2009 all-around world champion Keatings injured ankle ligaments two weeks ago.
"They are both competition fit," Jones said. "Dan Keatings could probably compete four pieces now and Sam all six pieces, but it's a reflection of the fact that if you're not 100% competition fit, we've got enough strong good lads that can come in and take places at the moment.
"With Dan, we could have risked him on a number of pieces but it makes no sense to do that.
"The proximity of the Games, we have to look forward to our Olympic aspirations and with someone like Dan, we want to protect him so he can come through the trial process and hopefully book himself a place on the team. That's a more important goal from going to the Europeans this time round.
"Sam is training well and getting back to full fitness."
