Jessica Gadirova

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Jessica Gadirova
2019-06-28 1st FIG Artistic Gymnastics JWCH Women's All-around competition Subdivision 1 Floor exercise (Martin Rulsch) 281.jpg
Gadirova at the 2019 Junior World Championships
Personal information
Country represented Great Britain
 England
Born (2004-10-03) 3 October 2004 (age 16)[1]
Dublin, Ireland[2]
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
Years on national team2019–present (GBR)
ClubAylesbury Gymnastics Academy[3]
Head coach(es)Molly Richardson, Joshua Richardson
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Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Olympic rings.svg
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Team
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2021 Basel Floor Exercise
Silver medal – second place 2021 Basel Vault
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Basel All-Around

Jessica Gadirova (born 3 October 2004) is an Irish-born, British artistic gymnast.[4] She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event. She is the 2021 European floor exercise champion, vault silver medalist, and all-around bronze medalist. She competed at the 2019 Junior World Championships alongside her twin sister, Jennifer.

Personal life[]

Gadirova and her twin sister Jennifer were born in Dublin, Ireland, and are of Azerbaijani background.[5] Their father, Natig Gadirov, is a citizen of Azerbaijan and their mother is Azerbaijani as well. Gadirova was born in Dublin, Ireland while her parents worked there for a few months. As a result, she has both Irish and British citizenship.[6][7] Her paternal grandparents live in Baku: her grandmother is a retired pediatrician, 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]

Gymnastics career[]

Espoir[]

2016[]

In March Gadirova competed at the British Espoir Championships where she placed 12th in the all-around and sixth on balance beam.[9]

Junior[]

2018[]

In February 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]

2019[]

In March Gadirova competed at the English Championships where she placed fourth behind Ondine Achampong, , 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 . In the team final they finished in sixth place and individually Gadirova finished 33rd in the all-around.[16]

Vault
Uneven bars
Balance beam
Gadirova at the 2019 Junior World Championships

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]

Senior[]

2021[]

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 10th 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, making history as the first British gymnast to finish top 10 at the olympics.[28] During the floor exercise event final Gadirova performed a clean routine and earned a score of 14.000 and finishing in sixth place.[29]

Selected competitive skills[]

Apparatus Name Description Difficulty[a] Performed
Vault López Yurchenko half-on entry, laid out salto forwards with ½ twist 5.2 2021
Baitova Yurchenko entry, laid out salto backwards with two twists 5.4 2021
Uneven Bars Van Leeuwen Toe-on Shaposhnikova transition with ½ twist to high bar E 2021
Tweddle Toe-on Tkatchev with ½ turn F 2021
Balance Beam Double pike Dismount: Double piked salto backwards E 2021
Floor Exercise Mukhina Full-twisting (1/1) double tucked salto backwards E 2021
Double Layout Double laid out salto backwards F 2021
Silivas Double-twisting (2/1) double tucked salto backwards H 2021
  1. ^ Valid for the 2017–2021 Code of Points


Competitive history[]

Espoir[]

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2016 British Espoir Championships 12 6

Junior[]

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2018 English Championships 23
British Championships 7 8 6
British Team Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 11
2019 English Championships 4
British Championships 7 8 4 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
FIT Challenge 4 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Junior World Championships 6
Sainté Gym Cup 1st place, gold medalist(s) 7
British Team Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)

Senior[]

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2021
European Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Olympic Games 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 10 6

References[]

  1. ^ "Entry List by NOC - 1st FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships" (PDF). FIG.
  2. ^ "Athlete profile - Jessica Gadirova". International Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Wall Of Fame". Aylesbury Gymnastics Academy.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "GADIROVA Jessica". FIG.
  5. ^ Johnson, Anna Rose (8 July 2019). "Double Determination: Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova". Inside Gymnastics Magazine. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Азербайджанки Джессика и Дженнифер – будущие суперзвезды и главные надежды Великобритании". Haqqin (in Russian). 24 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Natig Gadirov: Jennifer And Jessica Are Fighters". Gymnovosti. 26 April 2021.
  8. ^ Натик Гадиров – об успехе азербайджанских гимнасток: Они должны вернуть долг Великобритании, где выросли и обучились всему
  9. ^ "2016 British Espoir Championships Results". The Gymternet. 3 December 2016.
  10. ^ "2018 English Championships Results". 11 February 2018.
  11. ^ "2018 British Championships Results". The Gymternet. 12 March 2018.
  12. ^ "2018 British Team Championships Results". The Gymternet. 18 September 2018.
  13. ^ "2019 English Championships Results". The Gymternet. 5 March 2019.
  14. ^ "2019 British Championships Results". The Gymternet. 18 March 2020.
  15. ^ "2019 FIT Challenge Results". The Gymternet. 10 June 2019.
  16. ^ "2019 Junior World Championships Results". The Gymternet. 2 July 2019.
  17. ^ "2019 Sainté Gym Cup Results". The Gymternet. 8 July 2019.
  18. ^ "The Academy come out on top in battle of British teams - British Gymnastics". www.british-gymnastics.org. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  19. ^ @BritGymnastics (15 April 2021). "There's a change to our line up for the European Championships" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "British gymnasts announced for 2021 Artistic European Championships". British Gymnastics. 1 April 2021.
  21. ^ "Iordache secures Olympic ticket as Melnikova shines at qualifications at #Basel2021". European Gymnastics. 21 April 2021.
  22. ^ @UEGymnastics (23 April 2021). "Congratulations to all participants and medalists in the women's all-around final at #Basel2021" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. ^ "Viktoria Listunova wins first European gymnastics all-around title". Olympic Channel. 23 April 2021.
  24. ^ "Three medals for British gymnasts on amazing day of finals at European Championships". British Gymnastics. 24 April 2021.
  25. ^ "European Gymnastics: Jessica Gadirova wins gold in floor event". BBC. 25 April 2021.
  26. ^ "Women's artistic gymnastics team named by Team GB for Tokyo Olympics". British Gymnastics. 7 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  27. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Team GB win bronze in women's team gymnastics for first time since 1928". Sky News. 27 July 2021.
  28. ^ "Jessica Gadirova makes history in Olympic all-around final". British Gymnastics. 29 July 2021.
  29. ^ "Jessica Gadirova 6th and Jennifer 7th in Olympic floor final". British Gymnastics. 2 August 2021.
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