DESPITE my deep-rooted scepticism regarding the sporting merits of Formula One, it would be churlish not to congratulate Jenson Button following his capture of the world drivers’ title at the weekend.

Button’s transformation from talented playboy to tried-and-tested champion speaks volumes for his dedication and character, and the overtaking moves he produced in the first half of Sunday’s race in Brazil silenced anyone who was claiming he lacked the skill and technique demanded of a successor to the likes of Fangio, Senna and Schumacher.

Similarly, the transformation of the Brawn team from Formula One novices to constructor champions in less than a season is a remarkable story of resilience, camaraderie and success against the odds.

But while Button and his team-mates are deserving of the praise that has been heaped on them since Sunday’s success, it would be a shame if their exploits overshadowed Britain’s other world championship victory.

On the same day that Button was triumphing in Brazil, gymnast Beth Tweddle was winning Britain’s first World Artistic Gymnastics Championship gold medal on the floor.

Not, however, that you’d have known it following the muted response to her win.

Radio Five Live called her Beth Twiddle. A succession of newspapers – and because of constraints of space this one was included – relegated her victory to the digest column. And while Gordon Brown was quick to send a congratulatory message to Button, Britain’s most successful gymnast of all time is still waiting for the Prime Minister to call.

Yet in my book, Tweddle deserves far greater acclaim than Button. While Formula One’s world champion was earning £8ma- year before he took a pay cut to £3m to compete in this year’s series, British gymnastics’ golden girl gets by on lottery funding of £25,000 plus a £5,000 sponsorship deal from an equipment manufacturer.

Fourteen months ago, she suffered the intense disappointment of finishing fourth in the parallel bars final in Beijing. At the time, it looked like being the swansong of her international career.

Tweddle will be 27 when the Olympics arrive in London in 2012, and of the last 30 gold medals that have been handed out to female gymnasts in the World Championships and Olympic Games, only two have not gone to teenagers.

Tweddle already accounts for both of them.

Her age means it will be remarkable if she is still competing on the world stage in three years time, let alone arriving in London in a strong enough shape to compete for a medal, yet she steadfastly refuses to give in.

In part, that confirms the pull that London 2012 has over prospective British Olympians, but it also underlines the passion with which Tweddle acts as an ambassador for her sport.

She combines her training with a series of tours in which she teaches teachers how to teach gymnastics, and campaigns for an improvement in the standard of facilities that are available to aspiring youngsters.

“We don’t have a problem in losing kids because they are not interested,” she said at the weekend. “We lose kids because the facilities are lacking.”

That will not change overnight, but at least Britain’s next generation of gymnasts now have a role model they can look up to.

For all of his achievements behind the wheel, it is unlikely that the millionaire Button will ever give so much for so little.

BUTTON’S success has seen him emerge as an odds-on favourite to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Tweddle, perhaps predictably, is currently available at 25-1.

It is hard to see Button being beaten, but my vote would go to heptathlon world champion Jessica Ennis.

Last summer, Ennis could hardly walk having sustained a careerthreatening ankle injury that ruled her out of the Olympics. Yet after an intense winter of training, she returned to produce one of the greatest heptathlon performances of all time.

Victory in the face of adversity, and not a debatable rear diffuser or a bitter courtroom battle in sight.

ENOUGH has been written about Darren Bent’s beach ball goal without a need to delve into the wrongs and rights of the incident further.

But I couldn’t help but notice that referee Mike Jones’ punishment for making a hash of the decision to award the goal was demotion from the Premier League list to referee the Championship match between Peterborough and Scunthorpe this weekend.

Clearly, there is no need to know the rules of football in the Championship, and as he’s only officiating at Peterborough, no one will notice if Jones decides to award half-a-dozen penalties and a free-kick for coughing.

With the authorities treating life outside the Premier League with such disdain, is it any wonder that Football League clubs are feeling more ostracised and overlooked than ever?

AND while we’re on the subject of footballing authority failures, hasn’t it been pathetic to watch FIFA trying to justify their decision to seed the European play-offs for the World Cup finals?

When it became apparent that France, Portugal and Germany were all in danger of missing out on an automatic place in South Africa last month, FIFA suddenly decided to introduce a system that would guarantee they were kept apart in the play-offs.

As a result the Republic of Ireland find themselves playing France rather than Bosnia or Slovenia, and FIFA’s bean counters have the best possible chance of a World Cup involving World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo.

I know genuine competition went out of top-class football a long time ago, but wouldn’t it be nice if the World Cup retained at least a semblance of integrity?