Ava Elizabeth Stewart (born September 30, 2005) is an American-born

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

. She represented

Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics Canada competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's debut in 1900, Cana ...

and was a member of the bronze medal winning teams at the 2022 Pan American Championships and

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2023, links=no), officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, s ...

Early life

Stewart was born in

Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropolit ...

in 2005 to an American mother and a Canadian father. Her family moved to

Bowmanville Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Ontario, Clarington, Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along ...

, Ontario in 2010. She began gymnastics when she was eighteen months old.

Gymnastics career

2020

Stewart made her elite debut at Elite Canada where she finished third in the junior all-around behind Maya Zonneveld and Cassie Lee. As a result, she was selected to make her international debut at

2020 L'International Gymnix The 2020 International Gymnix competition was the 29th edition of the International Gymnix competition. It was held in Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second ...

. While there, she was part of the Canadian team that finished fourth. Individually, she finished seventh in the all-around and won the bronze medal on the balance beam behind Americans

Konnor McClain Konnor McClain (born February 1, 2005) is an American Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast and a member of the United States women's national gymnastics team. She is the 2022 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships, 2022 U.S National Champion an ...

and

Skye Blakely Skye Amiel Blakely (born February 4, 2005) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the teams who won gold at the 2022 World Championships, silver at the 2022 Pan American Championships, and bronze at the inaugural Junior World Ch ...

2021

Stewart became age-eligible for senior competition in 2021 and made her senior debut at Elite Canada, which was held virtually due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. She finished second in the all-around and on balance beam behind

Ellie Black Elsabeth Ann "Ellie" Black (born September 8, 1995) is a Canadian artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. She is a three-time Olympian, having represented her country at the Gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012, Gymnastics at the 2016 S ...

, first on floor exercise, and third on uneven bars behind

Rose-Kaying Woo Rose-Kaying Woo is a Canadian elite artistic gymnast who competed at the 2016 Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter ...

and Black. Stewart was scheduled to compete at the Doha World Cup in March; however, the event was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar The COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Qatar on 27 February 2020. As of the 12 ...

. Stewart next competed at two Technical Trials where she finished second in the all-around behind Black at both. Stewart competed at the Canadian Championships where she once again finished second in the all-around behind Black. Additionally she finished first on uneven bars, second on balance beam behind Black, and fourth on floor exercise behind

Brooklyn Moors Brooklyn Chloe Moors (born February 23, 2001) is a Canadian artistic gymnast who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games. She has also represented Canada at the 2017, 2018, and 2019 World Championships. At the 2017 World Championships she became the ...

, Black, and Lillian Bate. On June 17, Stewart was officially named to Canada's 2020 Olympic team alongside Black, Moors, and

Shallon Olsen Shallon Jade Olsen (born 10 July 2000) is a Canadian artistic gymnast. She is the 2018 World silver medalist and 2018 Commonwealth Games champion on vault. She is also the 2018 Commonwealth Games floor exercise bronze medalist and the 2019 Pan ...

. Had the Olympic Games not been postponed, Stewart would not have been age-eligible for the competition due to her 2005 birth year. Stewart made her senior international debut at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. The Canadian team finished tenth in the qualification round and did not advance to the finals.

2022

Stewart competed at the 2022 City of Jesolo Trophy where she helped Canada finish third in the team competition. Individually she qualified to and finished fifth in the uneven bars event final. In July Stewart competed at the

Pan American Championships A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the most ...

where she helped Canada finish third as a team.

2023

Stewart announced her verbal commit to the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

, starting in the 2024–25 season. In early October Stewart competed at the 2023 World Championships where she helped the Canadian team finish twelfth in qualifications. Later that month she competed at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

. On the first day of competition Stewart helped Canada win bronze behind the United States and Brazil. Individually she qualified to the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam finals. During the all-around final she finished fifth. During event finals she placed sixth on uneven bars and won bronze on balance beam behind Brazilians

Rebeca Andrade Rebeca Rodrigues de Andrade (born 8 May 1999) is a Brazilian artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic and 2021 World champion on the vault and 2022 World all-around champion. Andrade is the first Brazilian female gymnast to medal at an Olymp ...

and

Flávia Saraiva Flávia Lopes Saraiva (born September 30, 1999) is a Brazilian artistic gymnast. She represented Brazil at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She was part of the te ...

Eponymous skill

Competitive history

References

External links

Ava Stewart
at Gymnastics Canada * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Ava 2005 births Living people Canadian female artistic gymnasts Gymnastics people from Ontario Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Canada Gymnasts at the 2023 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 2023 Pan American Games