Beth Tweddle: Gymnast takes first assisted steps after neck surgery
Last updated on .From the section Gymnastics
Olympic bronze medallist Beth Tweddle has taken her first steps since having neck surgery following her fall on Channel 4's The Jump.
The retired British gymnast, 30, had fractured vertebrae fused together after she was injured while training for the winter sports TV programme.
Tweddle's parents, Ann and Jerry, said she had "walked a few steps whilst being assisted by the nursing team".
They added they were uncertain of a timescale for her recovery.
Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington, 26, Holby City actress Tina Hobley, 44, and Made In Chelsea star Mark-Francis Vandelli, 26, have all withdrawn from the show because of injury.
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Tweddle, who won five World Championships medals in her career, including three golds, has been in hospital in Austria since hitting a barrier last week.
She is Britain's most successful female gymnast, featuring at three Olympics and claiming Commonwealth Games gold in the uneven bars in 2002.
She won 11 medals across eight European Championships and seven consecutive national titles.
The Jump follows celebrities as they try to master various winter sports, including ski jumping, skeleton and speed skating.
Channel 4 said it had asked producers to review safety procedures on the reality TV programme.
Adlington, who won two swimming gold medals for Britain at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, suffered a shoulder injury, while Hobley dislocated her elbow and suffered two fractures to an arm.
