Jessica Gadirova

Jessica Gadirova
— Gymnast —
File: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 Dublin, Ireland
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior international elite
Years on national team	2019–present (GBR)
Club	Aylesbury Gymnastics Academy
Head coach(es)	Molly Richardson, Joshua Richardson
Medal record Women's artistic gymnastics Representing Great Britain Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Team European Championships 2021 Basel Floor Exercise 2022 Munich Floor Exercise 2021 Basel Vault 2022 Munich Team 2021 Basel All-Around
Awards	Gymnast of the Year (2021 - European Gymnastics)

Jessica Gadirova (born 3 October 2004) is an Irish-born, 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 and 2022 European floor exercise champion, 2021 European vault silver medalist, and 2021 European 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 descent. Their father, Natig Gadirov, and their mother are from Azerbaijan. Gadirova was born in Ireland while her parents worked there for a few months. As a result, she has both Irish and British citizenship. Her paternal grandparents live in Baku: her grandmother is a retired pediatrician, and her grandfather is a professor in physics and mathematics. Gadirova and her sister began gymnastics at six years old because their mother wanted them to have an outlet for their energy.

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.

Junior

2018

In February Gadirova competed at the English Championships where she placed 23rd. 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. She ended the season competing at the British Team Championships where she placed 11th in the junior non-squad all-around.

2019

In March Gadirova competed at the English Championships where she placed fourth behind Ondine Achampong, Halle Hilton, and Jennifer Gadirova. 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. 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.

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.

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Vault

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Uneven bars

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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. 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.

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), Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan. 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. In the all-around final Gadirova won the bronze medal behind Russians Viktoria Listunova and Angelina Melnikova. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. During the floor exercise event final Gadirova performed a clean routine and earned a score of 14.000 and finishing in sixth place.

In December 2021 Gadirova became a brand ambassador for gymnastics leotard manufacturer Milano Pro-Sport

2022

In March, Gadirova competed at the English Championships where she won the all-around and also took gold on vault and floor.

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. She then went on to win gold on vault and floor as well as silver on beam. In July Gadirova was selected to compete at the European Championships alongside her sister Jennifer, Achampong, Georgia-Mae Fenton, and Alice Kinsella. In August Gadriova competed at the European Championships. She contributed scores on vault and floor exercise towards Great Britain's second place finish. 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 along side Boryana Kaleyn and Ferhat Arıcan.

Selected competitive skills

Apparatus	Name	Description	Difficulty	Performed
Vault	López	Yurchenko half-on entry, laid out salto forwards with ½ twist	5.2	2021–22
	Baitova	Yurchenko entry, laid out salto backwards with two twists	5.4	2021–22
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	2021–22
Floor Exercise	Mukhina	Full-twisting (1/1) double tucked salto backwards	E	2021
	Double Layout	Double laid out salto backwards	F	2021–22
	Silivas	Double-twisting (2/1) double tucked salto backwards	H	2021–22

Competitive history

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