Take a look back at Beth Tweddle's biggest milestones and career achievements as she celebrates her 36th birthday.

The former Team GB Olympian has enjoyed a career glittering with accolades as she continues to be viewed as one of the world's biggest names in gymnastics.

Making history as a British female gymnast

Tweddle boasts an impressive medal count from her years of competing on the world stage. Before her retirement in 2013, she collected a total of 28 medals across her 12-year career. As a young girl with her dreams laid out in front of her, a young Tweddle probably never expected to carve her name in her nation's history.

She became the first female gymnast from Great Britain to win a medal at the European Championships, World Championships and the Olympics.

Tweddle's performances in red, white and blue cemented her name in the sport's records. Across her time representing her country, she has scooped up an impressive 14 gold medals, with six of those coming from the European Championships.

Her history-making status was just the start of young female Brits pushing to follow in her footsteps in the world of gymnastics.

Winning Bronze in London

One of Tweddle's biggest honours will undoubtedly be picking up bronze during the 2012 Olympics. Taking part in the Games hosted in your home country is one thing, but to win a medal must be a truly surreal feeling.

Tweddle won bronze in the uneven bars final, finishing with an overall score of 15.916. This was her first and only Olympic medal.

Her narrow miss in Beijing spurred her on to ensure she came away with something from the London Games. Tweddle finished fourth in 2008, not quite producing enough in China to bank her first Olympic medal. 

World Champion status

Tweddle first competed in the World Championships all the way back in 2001. She helped Great Britain place ninth in Ghent, Belgium but her overall individual finish saw her place 24th in the all-round final. 

The following year, she massively improved her performance on the uneven bars and placed fourth during the tournament in Debrecen, Hungary. But this still wasn't a good enough finish for the plucky young gymnast.

After years of further practice and near misses, she finally managed to get her hands on the gold. Tweddle placed first in the 2006 World Championships on uneven bars, and then again in 2010. Sandwiched between these two achievements, she won floor gold, despite being more well-known for her prowess on the bars.

Receiving her MBE

Ahead of the 2012 home nation Olympics, Tweddle was honoured with an MBE. As Britain's top gymnast, she was rewarded for her contributions to the sport following her success in the 2002 Commonwealth Games and her title in the European Championships four years later.

At just 25, Tweddle discussed the "massive honour" of receiving the prestigious award. She went on to say that the MBE was a "huge honour" outside of her work dedicated to winning medals in gymnastics.

Sports Personality of the Year shortlist

As well as making history by becoming the first British female gymnast to win medals across several major tournaments, Tweddle also holds the torch as the first gymnast to make the Sports Personality of the Year Award shortlist.

During the 2006 awards, the rising star reached a new level with her shortlist status but she also went on to finish third in the overall results. Tweddle finished behind golfer Darren Clarke and eventual winner Zara Phillips.