Tweddle scrapes through to final

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Video - British gymnasts team event

Beth Tweddle squeezed through to the final of the uneven bars but Great Britain failed to qualify for the women's team gymnastics final.

Tweddle, the 2006 world champion, has overcome a rib injury to compete in Beijing and took eighth in qualifying to secure the last spot for the final.

Britain finished ninth in the team event after France and Brazil made it into the top eight in the last round.

Becky Downie just made it into the all-around final in 24th place.

China topped team qualification, followed by the US, Russia and Romania.

Australia and Japan complete the list of eight countries that will contest the team final in Beijing on Wednesday.

Japan, the eighth-placed team, finished on 233.175 points - just 0.75 ahead of Great Britain.

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The host nation's nerves were evident as He Kexin fell on her final apparatus, the uneven bars.

She received a rousing ovation upon completing her routine but appeared close to tears as her team-mates rushed to console her.

Chinese gymnasts also qualified first for all four women's apparatus finals but head coach Lu Shanzhen said he only rated the performance at "70%".

The US seemed distracted by the ankle injury suffered by vault specialist Samantha Peszek just before she took to the floor, with Chellsie Memmel falling from uneven bars and Nastia Luikin tripping over while dismounting from the same apparatus.

"I cannot imagine what happened, all the training was great," said US team co-ordinator Martha Karolyi.

"I'm totally surprised. Maybe some kind of nerves? I just have no explanation - everyone was ready for these routines."

But despite the setbacks, American world individual champion Shawn Johnson led the all-around standings with compatriot Liukin in second place.

Defending Olympic team champions Romania did not look like the force that saw them win four of the six women's golds on offer at the Athens Games in 2004.

The women's all-around final takes place on Friday, with the vault and floor coming on 17 August, uneven bars on 18 August and beam on 19 August.