( CNN ) -- Not every athlete gets to train with their heroes , but Jennifer Pinches is lucky enough to be friends with one of hers . The 17-year-old is one of the Britain 's most promising gymnasts , and she is hoping to line up at her home Olympics this year with Beth Tweddle -- the first competitor from the UK to win a medal at the sport 's world championships . `` She 's a good mentor to me . It 's really good to have that relationship with Beth , '' Pinches told CNN 's Human to Hero series . Pinches has made a good start in her bid to emulate her hero , having been crowned English junior champion in 2007 before representing Britain at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships in Tokyo , Japan . She says representing her country at London 2012 would be `` the biggest honor . '' Early days . Born in a small town south of Manchester , Pinches ' love for gymnastics blossomed at an early age , and she worked her way up to become English champion in 2007 when she was 13 . `` I started when I was six years old after seeing some clips on the telly of a gymnast swinging around and really wanted to try it out because I had just quit ballet . So I started it at the gym and carried it on , '' she says . Heroes . Pinches met triple world champion Tweddle at Liverpool Gymnastics Club after family moved north to Cheshire when she was young . Now aged 27 , Tweddle made history for British gymnastics when she won a bronze medal at the 2003 world championships , and repeated that feat two years later . The South Africa-born athlete went to an even higher level when she claimed gold in the discipline at Aarhus in 2006 , and then again in Rotterdam in 2010 . `` I did n't start gymnastics because of a certain hero but when I was younger I always looked up to Beth , '' Pinches says . `` And when I moved to this club she was here , so I was a bit starstruck to meet her . But obviously now we 're friends and she 's a good mentor to me . It 's really good to have that relationship with Beth . '' Pinches could also line up against another of her contemporaries -- 17-year-old Russian Aliya Mustafina , who won two golds and three silvers in Rotterdam . `` She 's incredible . I 've met her -- that was an honor , '' Pinches says . Favorite apparatus . Pinches trains for seven hours a day on all the disciplines that make up gymnastics , but there is one form of the sport that is her clear favorite . `` I enjoy floor the best because I like the tumble , '' she says of the discipline in which Tweddle won gold at the world championships in London in 2009 . `` You get to have music on and dance with choreography . It 's good to perform . '' London 2012 . If Pinches needed any extra motivation , it comes with the realization that her first Olympics could also be the only one in her lifetime staged on home soil . She is so determined to make the London Games , she says everything in her life has taken a back seat . `` To get to the Olympics I have to put that full commitment in , especially this year . So I have dropped back on everything else to commit my life to achieving my goal , which is to get to the Olympics , '' says Pinches , who helped Britain qualify with fifth placing at the worlds in Tokyo last year -- the team 's best performance yet . `` The biggest honor is to be representing your country at the Olympic Games , and especially in London as it would be incredible . I would be over the moon if I was chosen the compete there . '' How would you define success ? Pinches ' best performance at an international meeting so far was a bronze in the floor discipline at a World Cup event in Scotland , but she says medals are not everything . `` Success for me is when I perform to my best potential . So , if I were picked for the Olympic team and complete my routines like I trained them with no major mistakes , that would be ultimate success for me . If medals come from that then so be it . ''
British athlete Jennifer Pinches hoping to reach her first Olympics later this year . She became British champion in 2010 when she was just 13-years - old . The year - old has been part of the British gymnastics squad since 2010 . GB came fifth in all - round competition at 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Champs .