| David Jessen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 December 1996 Brno, Czech Republic |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) [1] |
| Gymnastics career | |
| Discipline | Men's artistic gymnastics |
| Country represented |  Czech Republic |
| Former countries represented |  United States |
| College team | Stanford Cardinals |
| Club |
|
| Head coach(es) | Petr Hedbávný |
David Jessen (born 5 December 1996) is a Czech male artistic gymnast. He represented the Czech Republic at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.
David Jessen was born on 5 December 1996 in Brno, Czech Republic. His mother is Czech 1988 Olympic gymnast Hana Říčná, and his father Lorin Jessen is an American gymnastics coach. [2] [3] His younger sister Sandra also competed in gymnastics at Stanford. [4] The family moved to the United States when Jessen was young, and he began gymnastics when he was two years old. [5]
Jessen originally competed for the United States and was a member of the junior national team; however, he switched to competing for the Czech Republic in 2014 and became the Czech all-around champion. [2] [5] His nationality change was officially approved by the International Gymnastics Federation in 2015. [6] He competed alongside Martin Konečný and Daniel Radovesnický and the 2015 European Games, and they finished 22nd in the team competition. [7] He then competed at the 2015 World Championships and placed 50th in the all-around during the qualification round, qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Test Event. [8] [9] There, he finished 32nd in the all-around and qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games. [10] [11]
Jessen competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics and finished 47th in the all-around during the qualification round. [12] He also competed at the 2017 World Championships and finished 35th in the all-around during the qualification round. [13] At the 2019 Szombathely World Challenge Cup, he qualified for the horizontal bar final and finished seventh. [14] He then competed at the 2019 World Championships and finished 52nd in the all-around qualification round. [15]
Jessen competed with the Czech team that finished seventh at the 2020 European Championships, [16] and he was the first reserve for the horizontal bar final. [17] He qualified for the all-around final at the 2021 European Championships, finishing 18th. [18]
After Manrique Larduet from Cuba withdrew, [19] Jessen was called up to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics as the first alternate. [20] He placed 57th in the all-around during the qualification round. [21] After the Olympic Games, Jessen retired from gymnastics to attend medical school. [3]
Jessen studied Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Stanford University where he was part of the Stanford Cardinals men’s gymnastics team. [22] He then attended Temple/St. Luke's School of Medicine. [3]
Jessen has a pommel horse skill named after him in the Code of Points. [23]
| Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty [a] | Added to Code of Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pommel horse | Jessen | DSA with hop backward through handstand on the other end | D (0.4) | 2019 Doha World Cup |
