Tweddle: I would swap world title for Olympic medal at London 2012

By Gerard Meagher, Sportsbeat

THREE-TIME world champion Beth Tweddle believes there has been a shift in the balance of power in global gymnastics - and insists Great Britain now deserve their place at the top table.

FULL SET: (L-R) Great Britain's Dan Purvis, Beth Tweddle and Louis Smith pose with their medals from last week's World Championships (Reuters)

Tweddle, 25, secured uneven bars gold on a historic day for Great Britain on Saturday as Olympic bronze medallist Louis Smith also picked up pommel horse silver and 19-year-old Dan Purvis collected floor exercise bronze.

It was Great Britain's most successful day in gymnastics history and it saw Tweddle recapture the title she won in 2006, which made her GB's first ever world champion, and came a year after she won an unexpected world floor gold in London.

Great Britain's performance also came just weeks after what was essentially the B team returned from the Delhi Commonwealth Games with a glut of medals - a haul bettered only by Australia.

Tweddle and co's exploits saw them finish fourth in the medals table above traditional powerhouses Romania as well as fierce rivals Australia, while Chinese dominance was not as all-encompassing as has been the case in recent years.

In the women's events, China failed to top the podium in all six competitions while only Russia, who won team gold and saw Aliya Mustafina collect the all-around title, could boast multiple gold medallists.

In the men's events, China did collect four of the eight gold medals on offer but there were four European gold medallists - and not one of them was Russian.

And while the quintet of China, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), Japan, the USA and Romania are streets ahead in the all-time Olympic honours list, Tweddle believes the times are a changing.

"There's definitely a changing of the guard," Tweddle told national sports press agency Sportsbeat, speaking at the National Lottery's Games Brain of Britain grand final.

"If you look at the list of winners from the World Championships, in the women's events at least, the majority are English-speaking but that hasn't always been the case.

"And the British team is showing that it's a force to be reckoned with. There is great belief within the team at the moment, a great coaching set-up and a number of world medallists now.

"As far as the girls are concerned, we made a couple of mistakes in the team event [and finished seventh] but it was only our second major event together.

"It's a young team and we're improving all the time. And the men's team are also shaping up nicely and will be boosted when Daniel Keatings returns from injury."