Tunney makes impact

The 15-year-old is the youngest member of Team GB and was the youngest gymnast to compete in yesterday’s individual all-around event, where she finished in 13th place behind American Gabrielle Douglas, who won gold ahead of Russians Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina.

It is the second-best finish for a British woman in Olympic all-around competition, one place behind Becky Downie’s result at the – not bad for a gymnast who competed at January’s test event to gain experience on the world stage. Since then, Tunney has enjoyed a meteoric rise. She competed at the European Championships where she helped Britain to a fourth-place finish before being crowned British all-around champion.

The City of Liverpool gymnast topped the scoreboards at all three Olympic trials, before helping the five-strong women’s squad into their first Olympic team final in 28 years.

In contrast, Hannah Whelan, who trains with Tunney in Liverpool under coach Amanda Reddin, was heartbroken after a no-score on vault left her in last place.

The 20-year-old’s hopes of improving on ninth place at last year’s world championships crumbled when she was judged to have landed on her knees instead of her feet.