Jessica Gadirova facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jessica Gadirova
Gadirova at the 2022 European Championships
Personal information
Country represented	Great Britain
Born	(2004-10-03) 3 October 2004 (age 20) Dublin, Ireland
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team	2019–present
Club	Lynx Aylesbury
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 October 3, 2004) is a talented artistic gymnast who represents Great Britain. She was born in Dublin, Ireland, and has Azerbaijani family roots.

Jessica helped Great Britain win a bronze medal in the team event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She was also part of the team that won a silver medal at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. In 2023, her team won a gold medal at the 2023 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Individually, Jessica is a World champion on the floor exercise, winning in 2022. She is also a three-time European champion on 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 Championships.

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

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

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

About Jessica Gadirova

Jessica Gadirova and her identical twin sister, Jennifer, were born in Dublin, Ireland. Their parents are from Azerbaijan and moved to London in 2001. Jessica was born in Ireland while her parents were working there for a few months. This means she has Azerbaijani, Irish, and British citizenship.

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 up their energy.

Junior Gymnastics Career

Early Competitions: 2016-2018

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.

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

Junior World Championships: 2019

In March 2019, Jessica competed at the English Championships. She placed fourth. Later that month, she competed at the British Championships. She finished seventh in the all-around and 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 finish fourth as a team.

In June 2019, Jessica competed at the first Junior World Championships. This event was held in Győr, Hungary. She competed alongside her twin sister Jennifer and Alia Leat. The team finished in sixth place. Jessica finished 33rd in the all-around individually.

Vault

Uneven bars

Balance beam

Floor exercise

Gadirova at the 2019 Junior World Championships

In July, Jessica competed at the Sainté Gym Cup. She helped Great Britain win a gold medal as a team. In September, she competed at the 2019 Women's British Teams Championships. She finished first in the junior all-around, ahead of her sister. Her team, Aylesbury, also finished first.

Senior Gymnastics Career

First Senior Competitions: 2021

Jessica became a senior gymnast in 2020. However, she did not compete that year due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, she was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2021 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Her teammates included her twin sister Jennifer (who was later replaced by Phoebe Jakubczyk), Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan.

During the qualification rounds, Jessica made it to the all-around final. 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 of the competition, Jessica won gold on floor exercise. This made her the first British floor exercise champion since Beth Tweddle in 2010.

On June 7, Jessica was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She competed alongside her twin sister Jennifer, Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan. At the Olympic Games, Jessica qualified for the all-around and floor exercise finals. Great Britain also qualified for the team final.

During the team final, Jessica performed on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise. She completed all her routines well. She helped Great Britain win the bronze medal, which was their first Olympic team medal in 93 years. In the all-around final, Jessica finished tenth overall. This was the highest placement for a British gymnast in an Olympic all-around final. In the floor exercise final, Jessica performed a clean routine and finished in sixth place.

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

World and European Success: 2022

In March 2022, Jessica competed at the English Championships. She won the all-around title. She also won 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. She competed with her sister Jennifer, Ondine Achampong, Georgia-Mae Fenton, and Alice Kinsella.

In August, Jessica competed at the European Championships. Her scores on vault and floor exercise helped Great Britain finish second as a team. In the individual event finals, Jessica won gold on floor exercise for the second year in a row. Jessica 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 competed with her twin sister Jennifer, Ondine Achampong, Alice Kinsella, and Georgia-Mae Fenton. She helped Great Britain qualify for the team final. Individually, she qualified for the all-around, vault, and floor exercise finals.

During the team final, Jessica competed on vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise. She helped Great Britain win the silver medal. This was their highest placement ever at a World Championships. Jessica also had the highest floor exercise score of 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 of the competition, she competed in the floor exercise final. She was the last gymnast to perform and won the title. She became the second British woman to win the floor exercise title. Jessica was the second British gymnast to win a gold medal at these World Championships. At just 18 years old, Jessica became the youngest British gymnast to become a World Champion.

Because of her amazing performances, Jessica won several awards. She was named Sunday Times Young Sportswoman of the Year. She also won the Sports Journalists' Association Peter Wilson Trophy. In December, she won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

Injury and Return: 2023-2025

In 2023, Jessica competed at the English Championships. She placed fourth on uneven bars. She was then named to the team for 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 gold. During the apparatus finals, Jessica finished seventh on balance beam after a fall. However, she won her third consecutive title and third gold medal of the championships on floor exercise.

In September 2023, 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 account that she had suffered a full tear of her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). She described it as a "freak accident" during training. This injury ended her 2023 season and kept her from competing through 2024. This meant she missed the 2024 Summer Olympics.

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

Jessica returned to competition at the English Championships on March 2, 2025. This was 513 days after her last competition. She only competed on the balance beam, where she won the silver medal. Later that month, she competed at the British Championships. She only competed on the uneven bars and balance beam. She won silver on the uneven bars.

Selected Gymnastics Skills

Jessica Gadirova performs many impressive skills. Here are some of them:

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
2025	English Championships
	British Championships

Awards and Recognition

Jessica Gadirova has received several awards for her achievements:

See also

In Spanish: Jessica Gadirova para niños