But the 24-year-old from Cheshire will have to ensure that the pressure of home support works for her.
 

"Although she is older than many of the other girls, she is still peaking and performing at her best skill levels," Liukin, who is taking a year out of competition and is present at the Championships as a commentator for United States television, told insidethegames. 

 

"I think Beth can definitely be vying for the gold in both the uneven bars and the floor exercises."

But Liukin warned that Tweddle (pictured) will have to make sure she deals positively with the weight of expectation from the 12,000 home crowd.
 

"I watched on television when the US team won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the support they got from the home spectators was incredible," she recalled.

 

"To hear all those thousands and thousands of people shouting 'USA, USA' gives you the goosebumps.

 

"That was the one thing missing when I won the all-around title in Beijing last summer - what would have made if perfect would have been to win in front of 30,000 US supporters.
 

"But competing in front of a home crowd can sometimes be a hard position to be in.

 

"It can either help you or hinder you.

 

"The support can be amazing, but the pressure to deliver is tremendous.

 

"We saw that with the Chinese girls last year."

 

Liukin believes that with a number of performers from Beijing missing, these Championships will offer an opportunity for new talent to announce itself, just as she did in the 2005 World Championships.

"The US team is a little bit less experienced than the one which competed at the Olympics, but that is often the case in the year after the Games.

 

"That was how it was when I competed at my first World Championships in 2005, although they turned out to be my most successful so far because I won two golds and two silvers.
 

"The Chinese are always very strong, and there are sure to be good challenges from Romania, Russia and Australia."

 

Although Liukin has never competed in London she still plans to be at the O2 centre in 2012 to defend her Olympic title.
 

Tweddle, meanwhile, is looking towards Sunday night’s individual apparatus finals to regain the heights she reached three years ago when she became the first British gymnast to win a world title.
 

After missing out on an Olympic bronze by just 0.025 points after a campaign undermined by injury, she had an operation on her shoulder in February and demonstrated her recovery by winning double gold at the European Championships in May.
 

"I still can’t bear to watch what happened in Beijing," Tweddle said.

 

"But it just wasn’t meant to be and I have to move on.

 

"I know that if I perform both my routines as I would like then I should be up there in the medals."

 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected].

 

 

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