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Who is gold medalist Kaylia Nemour? Everything about the French-born gymnast who won Africa's first gymnastics medal at Paris Olympics
Kaylia Nemour posted 15.700 in the uneven bars finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first gymnast from any African nation to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.
Despite being a French-born gymnast, she decided to represent her father's birth country, Algeria, on the global stage. The 17-year-old won the silver at the 2023 World Championships by scoring 15.066 and etched her name as the first African gymnast to receive a world medal.
Kaylia Nemour holds dual citizenship since she was born to a French mother and an Algerian father in Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt, France. In the initial years, she competed for France, but things went down when she had to undergo knee surgeries for her bone and cartilage condition in 2021.
The French federation thought that her condition stemmed from over-training, therefore postponing her comeback in the competition, despite her getting a go-ahead from the surgeon (via The Associated Press).
Finally, following a long dispute, the French minister for sport released her, and she put on the Algerian gymnastic leotard. Her debut event as an Algerian gymnast was the 2022 Arab Championships, which earned her team and uneven bars gold.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics gymnastics team qualifications, Kaylia Nemour posted 15.600 in the uneven bars, the second-highest score of the day just behind Simone Biles' vault score of 15.800. She competed at the all-around finals in the fifth place and qualified to compete in the uneven bars finals.
Her score of 15.700 in the uneven bars on August 4 etched her name on top of the leaderboard. Her effort made her the first gymnast of any African nation to win an Olympic medal. Qiu Quiyan secured second place with 15.500 and US gymnast Suni Lee clinched bronze with 14.800.
Kaylia Nemour: "I'm honoured to have this medal after all that has happened"
At the 2023 World Championships, Nemour won the silver medal in her best event and became the first Algerian gymnast to achieve that feat. She faced defeat by Qiu Quiyang of China in the same event and planned her comeback at the Olympics, her debut as an Algerian representative.
After her gold medal win in Paris, Nemour said (via BBC):
"I'm so shocked, it's the dream of all my life. I can't believe it has happened, I'm speechless. In qualifying I had 15.600. When I saw her (Qiu's) 15.500, I really had to fight and gave the performance of my life. It's crazy, I'm honoured to have this medal after all that has happened, it's a relief."
Kaylia Nemour also won the all-around title at the 2023 African Championships besides the team bronze.
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