Jessica Gadirova | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country represented | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | [1] Dublin, Ireland [2] | 3 October 2004 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Level | Senior international elite | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years on national team | 2019–present (GBR) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Aylesbury Gymnastics Academy [3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coach(es) | Molly Richardson, Joshua Richardson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Awards | See awards |
Jessica Gadirova (born 3 October 2004) is an English artistic gymnast of Irish birth and Azerbaijani descent, representing Great Britain internationally. [4] She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event and was part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2022 World Championships and gold medal-winning team at the 2023 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
Individually, she is the 2022 World champion on floor exercise, the second British female and third Briton to win a World title on the apparatus (after Beth Tweddle and Giarnni Regini-Moran) as well as a three-time European champion on the same event (in 2021, 2022 and 2023). She is the first female gymnast to win three successive floor titles at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and the first of either sex since Franco Menichelli in 1965.
She is the 2023 European all-around champion, the second Briton after Ellie Downie to achieve that feat, and the 2022 World and 2021 European all-around bronze medalist. Additionally she is the 2021 European vault silver medalist. Gadirova became the first female gymnast to win three gold medals at the same European Championships since Cătălina Ponor for Romania in 2004, and the first to win the all-around title in doing so since Svetlana Khorkina for Russia in 2002.
She competed at the inaugural 2019 Junior World Championships alongside her twin sister, Jennifer. She was the first Irish-born gymnast to win a gymnastics World title in 2022; Rhys McClenaghan won the first gold medal for Ireland days later.
Domestically, Gadirova is a three-time English, three-time British champion.
Gadirova and her twin sister Jennifer were born in Dublin, Ireland, and are of Azerbaijani descent. [5] Their father, Natig Gadirov, and their mother are from Azerbaijan and emigrated to London in 2001. Gadirova was born in Ireland while her parents worked there for a few months before returning to England. As a result, she has Azerbaijani, Irish and British citizenship. [6] [7] Her paternal grandparents live in Baku: her grandmother is a retired paediatrician, and her grandfather is a professor in physics and mathematics. [8] Gadirova and her sister began gymnastics at six years old because their mother wanted them to have an outlet for their energy. [4]
In March Gadirova competed at the British Espoir Championships, where she placed 12th in the all-around and sixth on balance beam. [9]
In February 2018 Gadirova competed at the English Championships, where she placed 23rd. [10] The following month she competed at the British Championships, where she placed seventh in the all-around, eighth on uneven bars, and sixth on floor exercise. [11] She ended the season competing at the British Team Championships, where she placed 11th in the junior non-squad all-around. [12]
In March 2019 Gadirova competed at the English Championships, where she placed fourth behind Ondine Achampong, Halle Hilton, and Jennifer Gadirova. [13] Later that month she competed at the British Championships, where she placed seventh in the all-around, eighth on vault, fourth on uneven bars, and won bronze on floor exercise. [14] Gadirova next competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge, where she finished third in the all-around behind Romanians Ioana Stănciulescu and Silviana Sfiringu and helped Great Britain finish fourth as a team. [15]
In June Gadirova competed at the inaugural Junior World Championships in Győr, Hungary, alongside her twin sister Jennifer and Alia Leat. In the team final they finished in sixth place and individually Gadirova finished 33rd in the all-around. [16]
In July Gadirova competed at the Sainté Gym Cup, where she helped Great Britain win team gold. [17] In September she competed at the 2019 Women's British Teams Championships, finishing first in the junior all-around, ahead of her sister. Additionally, she helped Aylesbury finish first as a team. [18]
Gadirova turned senior in 2020, but did not compete due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021 she was selected to represent Great Britain at the European Championships alongside her twin sister Jennifer (later replaced by Phoebe Jakubczyk), [19] Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan. [20] During qualifications, Gadirova qualified to the all-around final, despite suffering a hard fall off of the balance beam. Additionally, Gadirova qualified to the vault final in first place and the floor exercise final in third place. [21] In the all-around final Gadirova won the bronze medal behind Russians Viktoria Listunova and Angelina Melnikova. [22] [23] She is the second British female artistic gymnast after Ellie Downie to win an all-around medal at the European Championships. During the vault final, Gadirova finished second behind Olympic and World vault medalist Giulia Steingruber. [24] On the final day of the competition Gadirova won gold on floor exercise ahead of Melnikova and former world all-around champion Vanessa Ferrari, making her the first British floor exercise champion since Beth Tweddle won in 2010. [25]
On 7 June, Gadirova was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics alongside her twin sister Jennifer, Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan. [26] At the Olympic Games, Gadirova qualified to the all-around and floor exercise finals; additionally, Great Britain qualified for the team final. During the team final, Gadirova performed on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise, hitting all of her routines and helping Great Britain win the bronze medal, their first Olympic team medal in 93 years. [27] During the all-around final Gadirova fell off the balance beam, but still finished tenth place overall. In doing so she became the highest placing British gymnast in an Olympic all-around final, surpassing Becky Downie's 12th-place finish in 2008. [28] During the floor exercise event final Gadirova performed a clean routine and earned a score of 14.000, finishing in sixth place. [29]
In December 2021 Gadirova became a brand ambassador for gymnastics leotard manufacturer Milano Pro-Sport. [30]
In March, Gadirova competed at the English Championships, where she won the all-around and also took gold on vault and floor. [31]
Later that month, Gadirova competed at the British Championships in Liverpool, where she took gold in the all-around with a score of 54.650, ahead of her Aylesbury teammates Ondine Achampong and her sister Jennifer. [32] She then went on to win gold on vault and floor as well as silver on beam. [33] In July, Gadirova was selected to compete at the European Championships alongside her sister Jennifer, Achampong, Georgia-Mae Fenton, and Alice Kinsella. [34] In August, Gadriova competed at the European Championships. She contributed scores on vault and floor exercise towards Great Britain's second-place finish. [35] During event finals, Gadirova won gold on floor exercise for the second consecutive year. Gadirova was also named Gymnast of the Year 2021 by European Gymnastics, alongside Boryana Kaleyn and Ferhat Arıcan. [36]
In September, Gadirova was named to the team to compete at the 2022 World Championships, once again alongside her twin sister Jennifer, Achampong, Kinsella, and Fenton. [37] She helped Great Britain qualify to the team final and individually she qualified to the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals. During the team final, Gadirova competed on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise, helping Great Britain win the silver medal and achieve their highest placement at a World Championships. Additionally Gadirova posted the highest floor exercise score of the competition. [38] During the all-around final Gadirova placed third behind Rebeca Andrade and Shilese Jones, earning Great Britain's first World all-around medal. [39] Gadirova withdrew from the vault final. On the last day of competition she competed in the floor exercise final. She was the last competitor to compete and earned a score 14.200 to win the title. She became the second British woman to win the floor exercise title after Beth Tweddle did so in 2009. Gadirova was the second British gymnast to win a gold medal at these World Championships after Giarnni Regini-Moran won the men's floor exercise title the previous day. At only 18 years and 34 days old, Gadirova became the youngest British gymnast to become a World Champion. [40] Due to her performances at the World Championships, Gadirova was named Sunday Times Young Sportswoman of the Year [41] and additionally won the Sports Journalists' Association Peter Wilson Trophy for international newcomer, alongside fellow British gymnast Jake Jarman. [42] In December, she won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award. [43]
Gadirova competed at the English Championships, where she placed fourth on uneven bars. She was named to the team to compete at the upcoming European Championships, alongside Becky Downie, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Ondine Achampong, and Alice Kinsella. [44]
At the European Championships. Gadirova helped Great Britain win their first team gold medal. Additionally she qualified to the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise finals in first place. [45] During the all-around final, Gadirova scored 55.032 to win gold ahead of Zsófia Kovács and Alice D'Amato. [46] During apparatus finals, Gadirova finished seventh on balance beam following a fall on dismount, but won her third consecutive title, and third gold of the championships on floor exercise. [47]
In September Gadirova was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2023 World Championships alongside Kinsella, Achampong, Fenton, and Ruby Evans. [48] She helped the British team to second place in qualifications as well as qualifying to the individual all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise finals. [49] But in the team final, where Gadirova contributed on all four events, the team was unable to reach the same level as they did in qualifications and finished sixth. [50] On the day of the individual all-around event, British Gymnastics, in a surprise announcement, said that Gadirova had withdrawn from the all-around competition as a "precautionary measure" after she felt some pain during training and was replaced by teammate Kinsella. [51] The following day she withdrew from all other event finals. On 15 October, Gadirova posted on her Instagram account that her withdrawal from the individual all-around was because she had suffered a full tear of her anterior cruciate ligament in which she described as a "freak accident" whilst performing a gymnastics prep skill in training. The injury ended her 2023 season and kept Gadirova inactive through 2024, meaning she missed the 2024 Summer Olympics. [52]
A month following the 2024 Olympic Games Gadirova announced that she had been cleared by her surgeon to resume training. [53]
Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty [a] | Performed |
---|---|---|---|---|
Vault | López | Yurchenko half-on entry, laid out salto forwards with ½ twist | 4.8 | 2021–22 |
Baitova | Yurchenko entry, laid out salto backwards with two twists | 5.0 | 2021–23 | |
Cheng | Yurchenko half-on entry, laid out salto forwards with 1.5 twists | 5.6 | 2023 | |
Uneven Bars | Van Leeuwen | Toe-on Shaposhnikova transition with ½ twist to high bar | E | 2021–22 |
Tweddle | Toe-on Tkatchev with ½ turn | F | 2021 | |
Balance Beam | Double pike | Dismount: Double piked salto backwards | E | 2021–23 |
Floor Exercise | Mukhina | Full-twisting (1/1) double tucked salto backwards | E | 2021 |
Double Layout | Double laid out salto backwards | F | 2021–23 | |
Chusovitina | Full-twisting (1/1) double laid out salto backwards | H | 2022-23 | |
Silivas | Double-twisting (2/1) double tucked salto backwards | H | 2021–23 | |
Moors | Double-twisting (2/1) double laid out salto backwards | I | 2023 |
Year | Event | Team | AA | VT | UB | BB | FX |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Espoir | |||||||
2016 | British Espoir Championships | 12 | 6 | ||||
Junior | |||||||
2018 | English Championships | 23 | |||||
British Championships | 7 | 8 | 6 | ||||
British Team Championships | 11 | ||||||
2019 | English Championships | 4 | |||||
British Championships | 7 | 8 | 4 | ||||
FIT Challenge | 4 | ||||||
Junior World Championships | 6 | ||||||
Sainté Gym Cup | 7 | ||||||
British Team Championships | |||||||
Senior | |||||||
2021 | |||||||
European Championships | |||||||
Olympic Games | 10 | 6 | |||||
2022 | English Championships | 4 | 4 | ||||
British Championships | |||||||
European Championships | 10 | 5 | |||||
World Championships | WD | ||||||
2023 | British Championships | 4 | |||||
European Championships | 7 | ||||||
World Championships | 6 | WD | WD | WD | WD |
Year | Award | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
2021 | European Gymnast of the Year | Won | [36] |
2022 | Sunday Times Young Sportswomen of the Year | Won | [41] |
SJA Peter Wilson Trophy | Won | [42] | |
BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year | Won | [43] | |
BBC Sports Personality of the Year | Nominated | [54] |
Rebecca Lauren Downie is a British artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008, 2016, and 2024 Summer Olympics. She is a double European champion and 2014 Commonwealth Games champion on the uneven bars as well as the 2019 World silver medallist.
Giulia Steingruber is a Swiss retired artistic gymnast. She is the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World bronze medalist on vault. Additionally, she is the 2015 European all-around champion, a four-time European vault champion and the 2016 European floor exercise champion.
Claudia Fragapane is a retired British artistic gymnast. She came to prominence at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was the first English woman to win four gold medals in a single Games since 1930. In 2015, Fragapane was part of the women's gymnastics team that won Great Britain's first-ever team medal, a bronze, at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, before winning an individual world championship bronze on floor two years later.
Kelly Jay Simm is an English artistic gymnast. She is the 2015 Summer Universiade all-around champion, vault silver medalist, and floor bronze medalist. She represented England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and won a gold medal in the team final. She competed at the 2015 World Championships and she won the bronze medal with the team.
Lilia Igorevna Akhaimova is a Russian retired artistic gymnast. She represented the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal in the team event. She is a two-time World silver medalist and the 2018 European champion with the Russian team. She is also a six-time Universiade medalist.
Zsófia Kovács is a Hungarian artistic gymnast who competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. She is the 2017 and 2023 European all-around silver medalist, the 2020 European champion on uneven bars, as well as the 2020 and 2022 European champion on vault.
Alice Nicole Kinsella is an English artistic gymnast and member of the British national gymnastics team. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event, and was part of the Great Britain team that achieved the highest positions ever achieved in the same event at the 2022 World Championships (silver) and the 2023 European Championships (gold). Kinsella won a Commonwealth Games team title as part of England's gold-winning team all-around squad of 2022.
Georgia-Mae Fenton is an English artistic gymnast and a member of both the British national gymnastics team and the England Commonwealth Games gymnastics squad. She is the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth champion on uneven bars, and a member of the gold medal-winning England team in 2022. With Great Britain, she was part of the team that won silver at both the 2022 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships and 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, before winning the gold medal, the first for a British women's team, at the 2023 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
Amelie Morgan is a British artistic gymnast. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event. She is the 2021 European Championships bronze medalist on the uneven bars. Additionally, she won the silver medal in the all-around at the 2018 Youth Olympics, as well as a silver medal on the floor exercise and a bronze on the balance beam. At the 2018 Junior European Championships she won five medals —the most medals won by a British junior female gymnast at the European Championships.
Emma Kathryn Mary Spence is a Canadian artistic gymnast. She represented Canada at the 2022 World Championships and won a bronze in the team event, their first team medal. She won bronze with the team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Individually she is the 2018 Youth Olympic bronze medallist on vault as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games all-around and balance beam bronze medalist.
Vladislava Sergeyevna Urazova is a Russian artistic gymnast. She represented the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal in the team event. She was a member of the team who won gold at the inaugural Junior World Championships. Individually she is the 2019 Junior World Champion and 2021 European silver medalist on the uneven bars.
Viktoria Viktorovna Listunova is a Russian artistic gymnast. She represented the Russian Olympic Committee at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal in the team event. She was a member of the team that won gold at the inaugural Junior World Championships. Individually, she is the 2019 Junior World all-around and floor exercise champion, the 2021 European all-around champion, and the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Russian National Champion.
Jennifer Gadirova is an English artistic gymnast of Irish birth and Azerbaijani descent, representing Great Britain internationally. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event, and was part of the Great Britain team to win silver, their best ever result, in the team event at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the same medal at the 2022 European Championships. Competing at the 2019 Junior World Championships, she won a silver medal in the vault final.
Ondine Achampong is a British artistic gymnast who was part of the women's team that won silver at the 2022 World Championships. She won a gold medal with the English team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and individually, Achampong won silver medals in the all-around and on floor exercise. She is the 2022 European team and balance beam silver medalist. She is the 2021 British all-around champion and the 2022 British all-around silver medalist.
Lihie Raz is an Olympic artistic gymnast. Born in the United States, she represents Israel internationally. She won the bronze medal on the floor exercise at the 2020 European Championships, which was Israel's first medal at the European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is also the 2019 and 2021 Israeli all-around champion. She represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics and finished 59th in the all-around during qualifications, but did not advance to any finals. Raz represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and came in 16th in the Women's vault, and 31st in the Women's All-Around qualification with a score of 51.632, just missing the final that had a cutoff of 51.698.
Martina Maggio is an Italian artistic gymnast. She represented Italy at the 2020 Olympic Games. She was a member of the gold medal winning teams at the 2022 Mediterranean Games and the 2022 European Championships. She was also the alternate for the team who won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart. Individually she is the 2022 Mediterranean Games all-around champion, the 2022 European all-around bronze medalist, the 2022 European silver medalist on floor, and 2016 European junior vault champion.
Angela Andreoli is an Italian artistic gymnast. She was a member of the historic team that won silver at the 2024 Olympic Games. Additionally she was a member of the gold medal-winning teams at the 2022 Mediterranean Games, the 2022 European Championships, and the 2024 European Championships. Individually she is the 2022 Mediterranean Games bronze medalist on vault as well as the 2022 and 2024 European bronze medalist on floor exercise.
Jake Jarman is a British artistic gymnast from Peterborough, competing internationally for Great Britain, and for England at the Commonwealth Games. In his first major senior championships, the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Jarman won the gold medal in the team all-around, individual all-around, floor exercise and vault, the first English male gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Games. A few weeks later in Munich, representing Great Britain, Jarman became European champion in the team and vault events, becoming the first British male to win European gold on vault. In 2023, Jarman added vault gold at the 2023 World Championships, the first Briton to win world gold on the apparatus, the fourth male British world champion, and sixth British world champion.
Ruby Grace Evans is a Welsh artistic gymnast and a member of the British national team. She was part of the silver-medal winning team at the 2024 European Championships and is a five-time Northern European champion. She represented Great Britain at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Abigail "Abi" Martin is a British artistic gymnast. She represented Great Britain at the 2024 Olympic Games and the 2023 Junior World Championships.