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TOP Yate gymnast Peter Mewse is dreaming of representing Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympics.

The former Katharine Lady Berkeley School pupil is one of the top tumblers in the country having just recently made his FIG World Cup debut for Great Britain, and he expects to be competing at the top level in four years time.

Unfortunately though for Mewse, tumbling isn't an Olympic gymnastic event at the moment, and has only been so on one occasion in 1932, but the 19 year-old is hoping that will change in time for the first Games in the UK since 1948.

He said: "Any sportsman wants to compete at the Olympics and I might be at my peak in 2012."

"Gymnastics has been a part of my life since I was little, and my ambition has always been to win medals in international competitions."

Mewse has been a keen gymnast from the age of four years old when he joined King Edmund's gymnastics club in Yate.

Now a student at Reading University, he dedicates three hours a day, five days a week to the sport under the guidance of top Russian coach Vladimir Podobin.

He achieved an impressive 10th place in the first World Cup event in Poland recently, was also the second placed British gymnast in that event, and only finished one mark off a place in the final.

He believes that performance has put him in good stead for the other three World Cup events coming up throughout this year, and hopefully also the major event on the calendar, the European Championships.

"It was really good to get my first senior experience, and for my first competition I think it went well," he said.

"It's given me confidence for the future, I've got the senior European Championships later this year so it has given me a look at what it's like."

"I was a bit disappointed to miss out (on the final) because it was such a small margin, but not too much."

Mewse will be on the hunt for more success this weekend as he competes in the British National Championships in Stoke-on-Trent.

The event is the second part of the trials for the European Championships which takes place in Denmark at the end of April, after the first part of the trials in Lilleshall last Saturday.

Mewse said: "I expect to be competing for medals but it's a good standard."

Perhaps part of Mewse's success is due to the genes he inherited.

His mum Jane coaches the gymnastics group at The Ridge Junior School, and will be taking them to the British schools championship finals next month as they aim to win it for the 11th successive year.

His 23 year-old brother Chris retired after claiming the bronze medal in the Sports Acrobatics event in the European Championships five years ago.

His sister Stephanie, 21, was also a keen gymnast and a former British Schools champion before retiring.

To continue the sporting trend, father Mike is a PE teacher at KLB school, where Mewse junior received a tremendous amount of support to allow him to develop his gymnastic talent.

As Mewse talks about some of his earliest experiences of representing the UK at junior gymnastic events, he paid tribute to the Wotton based school.

"The school gave me a lot of support and allowed me to have time off for tournaments," he said.

"I went to the European and World Championships at such a young age that it helped me progress and get to the level that I'm at now.

"I also went to Russia when I was 13 and that was a big experience."

9:30am Thursday 27th March 2008

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