Gymnast Beth Tweddle produced one of the best routines of her life to top qualifying for the Olympic uneven bars final inside the North Greenwich Arena.
The 27-year-old scored a mammoth 16.133 in her last Games for Great Britain.
Russia's Victoria Komova led all-around qualification, scoring 60.632 ahead of American Aly Raisman's 60.391.
But no nation could match the ability across the board of the United States team, driven on in particular by a series of near-faultless vault performances.
The US scored 181.863 to top team qualifying ahead of Russia (180.429), China (176.637) and Romania (176.264). Great Britain scored 170.656 for fifth, with Japan, Italy and Canada also making the final.
North Greenwich Arena: The GBR women's artistic gymnastics team of Beth Tweddle MBE, Jennifer Pinches, Hannah Whelan, Rebecca Tunney and Imogen Cairns have qualified to the women's artistic Olympic team final for the first time since 1984 in 5th place.
As well as team qualification at stake Beth Tweddle was under a lot of pressure to complete her difficult bar set to ensure she finished in the top 8 in order to advance to the apparatus finals. However, she performed her routine with complete ease, finishing with a flawless posting a huge score of 16.133, which qualifies her in first for the final on Monday 6th August.
Reigning British Champion, fifteen year old Rebecca Tunney and 2011 British Champion Hannah Whelan put in solid performances to advance to the all-around finals on Thursday the 2nd August in 13th and 15th place respectively with teammates Jennifer Pinches and Imogen Cairns playing vital parts in the teams qualification.
Beth Tweddle MBE: "I've thought about this competition and this bar routine for so long and to produce my best score this Olympic quad in qualifying - it couldn't be any better. I spoke to Louis Smith about the crowd and pressure and what to expect and he said they lifted him and it was definitely the same for me today, the atmosphere was incredible. The team are like sisters and we all pulled together today and relished the pressure. The balance of the team with the experience of Imogen Cairns, Rebecca Tunney only fifteen years old and performing brilliantly and Hannah and Jenni with great all-around displays- it worked perfectly. For me today was the big pressure day, people tried to calm me but deep down you know you have to perform, so to go out and do it is brilliant. The gymnasts have done a great job both days for GBR.”
The GBR women will next be in action on Tuesday the 31st July in the team final. Tomorrow (Monday 30th July), the GBR men’s team will compete in their team final at 4.30pm after qualifying in third place.
