Tweddle walking again after TV ski jump fall

Triple gymnastics world champion Beth Tweddle has started walking unaided following a fall while ski jumping for a television reality show, she announced on Saturday.

The 30-year-old Briton, a bronze medallist at the 2012 London Olympics, crashed while practising for the British reality television show ‘The Jump’ in Austria last weekend.

Surgeons in Austria used a bone fragment from her hip to fuse together two fractured vertebrae in her neck and she is now able to walk without assistance.

“The medical staff here in Austria have been fantastic and I couldn’t have wished for better people to be around me at this time,” Tweddle said in a statement posted on her official website.

“I’ve started to feel a lot better in the past 24 hours and I’ve begun walking by myself. The doctors are happy with my progress and next week we will have a better idea of when I can be discharged from the hospital.

“Thank you to everyone that has sent me get well messages. My Mum and Dad have been reading them to me and, one day, I’ll be able to reply to you all. It really has meant a lot to me, so thank you.”

In addition to her three world titles — 2006 and 2010 on the uneven bars and 2009 on the floor exercises — and Olympic medal, Tweddle was also a six-time European champion and won one gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Britain’s most successful gymnast, she retired from competitive gymnastics in August 2013.