2015 World Gymnastics Championships: Q&A with Beth Tweddle

THREE-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Beth Tweddle was a pioneer for British gymnastics on an international stage. 
Now 30, she retired from competition in 2013 but remains the country’s most successful gymnast – male or female – and was the first Briton to win gold at world level.
With a month to go until the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow from October 23 until November 1, we catch-up on what she’s been up to.
How has life been post retirement?
Since I retired life has been very different. I am doing a lot of different things and trying a lot of new experiences. Obviously when I was training I couldn’t try certain activities for the fear of injury so since retiring I have made the most of all the opportunities.
I have tried sky-diving, wing-walking, skiing, abseiling and lots of other things and love the freedom of this. Obviously Dancing on Ice was a great experience and it helped me to see another life away from elite level gymnastics.
With regards to gymnastics I would never be able to walk away from it because it has been such a massive part of my life. I am the athlete representative for the International Gymnastics Federation and also spend time doing a lot of gymnastics club visits.
I also have my own business which allows children to have that first opportunity in gymnastics and works at the grass roots level. I want children as many kids as possible to have the chance to have a go at gymnastics, I tried so many different sports before I found the one I love so it’s all about creating opportunity.
Talk us through your time on the athlete-to-coach programme and why you decided to get involved?
I do spend a bit of time coaching but I wanted to be able to improve my knowledge and expertise. Obviously I have a lot of knowledge from an athlete’s view point but it is a completely different ball game when it comes to being a coach. I wanted to help improve my coaching skills.
How has it been different seeing gymnastics through the eyes of a coach?
It is a very different being a coach from being an athlete. When I was training I only had to work on own skills but obviously when you are a coach you will be working with a lot of different individuals and you have to be able to work out what’s works best for each individual gymnast.
What role have you played in the lead up to the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow and what role will you have during the event?
I am working as an ambassador for the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships which has been great. I have spent some time up in Glasgow doing the promotion for it and really enjoyed the role. It is different to be on the other side of the fence leading up to a major championship.
During the championships I will be spending some time working as the FIG athlete representative a role I’ve been doing for two years.
I feel that the athletes need a voice and I am working to be able to create the pathway between the gymnasts and the FIG working a lot with the women’s technical committee – I am really enjoying it.
Alongside that I will also be working with the BBC and continuing my role as an ambassador so it will be an exciting but busy three weeks.
How much are you looking forward to the world championships and what are you expecting?
Great Britain have been doing really well over the past few years and it is an exciting time leading up to the World Championships. I am looking forward to watching them all compete in Glasgow and hopefully gaining those team spots for Rio 2016.
Outside of our hopes for GB, there are so many international athletes on top form at the minute. Obviously many gymnasts and teams will be hoping to qualify for the Olympics next year so it will be an exciting competition to watch. 
On the women's side, Simone Biles is an amazing gymnast and definitely one to watch in Glasgow and on the men’s side Kohei Uchimura is a very talented gymnast and one that many gymnasts around the world look up to. It will be great to see what he has up his sleeve at these world championships.