Beth Tweddle forgives the bullies who targeted her online

Former gymnast Beth Tweddle says she's forgiven online bullies who attacked her during a Twitter Q&A last year.

The 29-year-old, who won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, was targeted as she was answering questions during a show about women in sport.

"I think it's always difficult when it's attacking how you look because there is not a lot you can do about changing that," she tells Radio 1.

"It is hard when you hear people saying you look like a horse."

Beth Tweddle won gold at the London Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 2009

Sky Sports was forced to issue a statement last January condemning the "unacceptable and offensive abuse" she received while answering sports-related questions in a slot called The Everyday Sexism Project.

One man tweeted, "Are all sportswomen lesbians?" while another said, "Do you think pregnancy is a poor injury excuse and women should be able to run it off?"

Beth says she was shocked but wasn't really tempted to reply.

"If you start to reply to them you're giving them the satisfaction that they know that you've read it - and it has hurt you.

"Whereas if you ignore it, because it is at the end of a computer or a phone, they don't even know whether you've seen it.

"If you start to retaliate it's only going to make it worse because then they'll retaliate back and it'll just end up as a Twitter war."

Beth competed at three Olympic Games and won three gold medals at world championships and six golds at European championships.

Since retiring in August 2013 she has made guest appearances on BBC show Tumble and was a judge on Junior MasterChef.

She also finished third in the final series of ITV's Dancing on Ice.

Beth, from Bunbury, Cheshire says she forgave most of the people who sent offensive messages because many said sorry.

"Quite a lot of the people that sent the comments actually apologised to me. They would later send tweets saying, 'We didn't realise how hurtful they would be.'

"A lot of the time you're sat behind a computer or behind a tablet phone or whatever it is that you use the social media on, and these people - they don't realise that actually it's a person at the end of that that's going to receive that Twitter message or that Facebook message.

"Whether they were told to apologise, I don't know, but I accepted their apology and I moved on from it."

Beth is speaking out as part of a week of shows on Radio 1 tackling cyberbullying.

She says if you're being bullied online, or in person, you have to tell someone.

"It is OK to speak about it and it's not always easy.

"You know what it's like when you're in school and there was something said to you. You don't want to say something in case the backlash is worse than what it is.

"But it's better than suffering in silence.

"The one thing that gymnastics taught me was, 'Before you sent the tweet, would you like your nan to read it?' And that is one thing that I've always stuck to."

You can hear more from Beth on Radio 1 Stories: Anti-Social Media on Tuesday night at 21:00 GMT.

Radio 1 has linked up with YouthNet to host an hour of live advice on how to deal with online bullying between 10-11pm every night (Mon-Thurs) and there's help at BBC Advice.

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