Beth Tweddle
		   
			
			
			Olympic discipline: Gymnast
With her trademark tricky routines on the asymmetric bars, Tweddle was the first British competitor to win a world gold medal, at the World Gymnastics Championships. 
She began training aged seven and within a year she was second in the country. Despite injuries, the sports-science graduate has been British champion seven times. Critics have called her the best British gymnast ever.