Jessica Gadirova facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jessica Gadirova
Gadirova at the 2022 European Championships
Personal information
Country represented	Great Britain  England
Born	(2004-10-03) 3 October 2004 (age 20) 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 Bronze 2020 Tokyo Team World Championships Gold 2022 Liverpool Floor Exercise Silver 2022 Liverpool Team Bronze 2022 Liverpool All-Around European Championships Gold 2021 Basel Floor Exercise Gold 2022 Munich Floor Exercise Gold 2023 Antalya Team Gold 2023 Antalya All-Around Gold 2023 Antalya Floor Exercise Silver 2021 Basel Vault Silver 2022 Munich Team Bronze 2021 Basel All-Around
Awards	See awards

Jessica Gadirova (born 3 October 2004) is a famous English gymnast. She was born in Ireland and has Azerbaijani family roots. Jessica proudly represents Great Britain in international competitions.

She won a bronze medal with her team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She also helped her team win a silver medal at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and a gold medal at the 2023 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Jessica is a World champion on the floor exercise from 2022. She is also a three-time European champion on the floor exercise, winning in 2021, 2022, and 2023. She is the first female gymnast to win three floor titles in a row at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

In 2023, she became the European all-around champion. She also won bronze medals in the all-around at the 2022 World Championships and the 2021 European Championships. Jessica also earned a silver medal on vault at the 2021 European Championships. She is the first female gymnast since 2004 to win three gold medals at the same European Championships.

Jessica competed at the first-ever 2019 Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with her twin sister, Jennifer. She was the first gymnast born in Ireland to win a World title in gymnastics in 2022.

At home in Great Britain, Jessica has won the English and British championships three times each.

About Jessica's Life

Jessica Gadirova and her twin sister, Jennifer, were born in Dublin, Ireland. Their family comes from Azerbaijan. Their parents, Natig Gadirov and his wife, moved to London in 2001. Jessica was born in Ireland because her parents worked there for a few months.

Because of this, she has citizenship in Azerbaijan, Ireland, and Great Britain. Her grandparents live in Baku, Azerbaijan. Her grandmother used to be a children's doctor, and her grandfather is a professor in physics and mathematics. Jessica and Jennifer started gymnastics when they were six years old. Their mother wanted them to have a fun way to use their energy.

Early Gymnastics Career

Starting as an Espoir: 2016

In March 2016, Jessica competed at the British Espoir Championships. She finished 12th in the all-around competition. She also placed sixth on the balance beam.

Junior Competitions: 2018–2019

In February 2018, Jessica competed at the English Championships. She finished 23rd there. The next month, she was at the British Championships. She placed seventh in the all-around. She also finished eighth on uneven bars and sixth on floor exercise.

In March 2019, Jessica competed at the English Championships again. She placed fourth. Later that month, at the British Championships, she finished seventh in the all-around. She also won a bronze medal on floor exercise.

Jessica then competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge. She finished third in the all-around. She also helped Great Britain's team finish fourth.

Vault

Uneven bars

Balance beam

Floor exercise

Gadirova at the 2019 Junior World Championships

In June, Jessica competed at the first 2019 Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Hungary. She was there with her twin sister Jennifer and Alia Leat. Their team finished in sixth place. Jessica finished 33rd in the all-around.

In July, Jessica helped Great Britain win a team gold medal at the Sainté Gym Cup. In September, she won the junior all-around at the British Team Championships. Her team, Aylesbury, also finished first.

Senior Gymnastics Career

2021 Season

Jessica became a senior gymnast in 2020. However, she could not compete due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, she was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2021 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

She qualified for the all-around final, even after a fall on the balance beam. She also qualified for the vault final in first place and the floor exercise final in third place. In the all-around final, Jessica won the bronze medal. She was the second British female gymnast to win an all-around medal at the European Championships.

In the vault final, Jessica finished second. On the last day, she won gold on floor exercise. This made her the first British floor exercise champion since 2010.

On June 7, Jessica was chosen for the Olympic Games team. She competed with her twin sister Jennifer, Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan. At the Olympics, Jessica qualified for the all-around and floor exercise finals. Great Britain also made it to the team final.

In the team final, Jessica performed on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise. She did all her routines well. This helped Great Britain win the bronze medal, their first Olympic team medal in 93 years!

In the all-around final, Jessica fell off the balance beam. But she still finished tenth overall. This was the highest place for a British gymnast in an Olympic all-around final. In the floor exercise final, Jessica performed a clean routine. She finished in sixth place.

In December 2021, Jessica became an ambassador for Milano Pro-Sport, a company that makes gymnastics leotards.

2022 Season

In March 2022, Jessica competed at the English Championships. She won the all-around title. She also took gold medals on vault and floor exercise.

Gadirova vaulting at the 2022 European Championships

Later that month, Jessica competed at the British Championships in Liverpool. She won gold in the all-around. She also won gold on vault and floor, and silver on beam. In July, Jessica was chosen to compete at the 2022 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

In August, Jessica competed at the European Championships. She helped Great Britain finish second as a team. In the individual finals, Jessica won gold on floor exercise for the second year in a row. She was also named Gymnast of the Year 2021 by European Gymnastics.

In September, Jessica was named to the team for the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She helped Great Britain qualify for the team final. Individually, she qualified for the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals.

In the team final, Jessica competed on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise. She helped Great Britain win the silver medal. This was their highest team placement ever at a World Championships. Jessica also had the highest floor exercise score in the competition.

In the all-around final, Jessica placed third. This earned Great Britain's first World all-around medal. Jessica later withdrew from the vault final. On the last day, she competed in the floor exercise final. She won the title with a score of 14.200. She became the second British woman to win the floor exercise title.

At just 18 years old, Jessica became the youngest British gymnast to become a World Champion. Because of her amazing performances, she won several awards. These included the Sunday Times Young Sportswoman of the Year and the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

2023–2024 Season

Jessica competed at the English Championships in 2023. She placed fourth on uneven bars. She was then chosen for the team to compete at the 2023 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

At the European Championships, Jessica helped Great Britain win their first team gold medal. She also qualified for the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise finals in first place. In the all-around final, Jessica won the gold medal. In the individual finals, she finished seventh on balance beam after a fall. But she won her third straight title, and third gold medal of the championships, on floor exercise.

In September, Jessica was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She helped the British team place second in qualifications. She also qualified for the individual all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise finals.

However, in the team final, the team finished sixth. On the day of the individual all-around event, British Gymnastics announced that Jessica had withdrawn. This was a "precautionary measure" because she felt some pain during training. She was replaced by her teammate Alice Kinsella. The next day, she withdrew from all other event finals.

On October 15, Jessica shared on her Instagram that she had a serious injury. She tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a "freak accident" during training. This injury ended her 2023 season and meant she would miss the 2024 Summer Olympics.

A month after the 2024 Olympic Games, Jessica announced that her surgeon had given her permission to start training again.

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
	World Championships			WD
2023	British Championships				4
	European Championships					7
	World Championships	6	WD	WD		WD	WD

Awards and Recognition

Jessica Gadirova has received many awards for her gymnastics achievements:

See also

In Spanish: Jessica Gadirova para niños