Jennifer Gadirova (born 3 October 2004) is an English

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 ...

of Irish birth and Azerbaijani descent, representing Great Britain internationally. She represented

Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics Great Britain, or in full Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the team of the British Olympic Association (BOA), which represents the United Kingdom, competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July t ...

and won a bronze medal in the team event, and was part of the Great Britain team to win silver, their best ever result, in the team event at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and the same medal at the 2022 European Championships. Competing at the 2019 Junior World Championships, she won a silver medal in the vault final. Jennifer Gadirova is the twin sister and teammate of the 2022 World Champion on floor exercise,

Jessica Gadirova Jessica Gadirova (born 3 October 2004) is an English artistic gymnast of Irish birth and Azerbaijani descent, representing Great Britain internationally. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the ...

Personal life

Gadirova and her twin sister Jessica were born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and are of Azerbaijani background. Their father, Natig Gadirov, is a citizen of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and their mother is Azerbaijani as well. Gadirova was born in Dublin while her parents worked there for a few months; as a result she has Azeri, Irish and British citizenships. Her paternal grandparents live in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

: grandmother is a retired paediatrician, and 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 English Championships, where she placed first on floor exercise, winning the Christine Bowker Artistry Trophy, and fourth in the all-around.

Junior

2018

In February, Gadirova competed at the English Championships, where she placed twelfth. The following month, she competed at the British Championships, where she placed fifth on floor exercise, sixth on vault, and nineteenth in the all-around. She ended the season competing at the British Team Championships, where she placed third in the junior non-squad all-around.

2019

In March, Gadirova competed at the English Championships, where she placed third behind Ondine Achampong and Halle Hilton. Later that month she competed at the British Championships where she placed fifth in the all-around and won gold on floor exercise, silver on vault, behind

Annie Young Annie Young (died January 22, 2018, age 75) was an American politician and member of the Green Party of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was an elected at-large member of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Young ran for Minnesota S ...

, and bronze on uneven bars, behind Achampong and Young. In June, Gadirova competed at the inaugural Junior World Championships in

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

, Hungary alongside her twin sister Jessica and Alia Leat. In the team final they finished in sixth place and individually Gadirova finished seventh in the all-around. During event finals she won silver on vault with a score of 14.133 behind American

Kayla DiCello Kayla Kecia DiCello ( or or ) (born January 25, 2004) is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2021 World all-around bronze medalist. On the junior level, she is the 2019 Junior World vault champion and the 2019 U.S. Junior national all-a ...

, finished fourth on floor exercise (13.266) and sixth on balance beam (13.133). Gadirova was the first British gymnast to win a medal at the 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 Artistic Adrian Stan British Teams Championships, finishing second in the junior all-around, after her sister. In November she competed at the Massilia Cup in France, winning gold on vault and silver on floor.

Senior

2020

In 2020 Gadirova became a senior; her senior debut was the

American Cup The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...

where she replaced injured

Amelie Morgan Amelie Morgan (born 31 May 2003) is a 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 European Championships bronze medalist on the uneven bars. Ad ...

. She placed fourth (due to a fall) behind

Morgan Hurd Morgan Elizabeth Hurd (born July 18, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast and a five-time member of the United States women's national team (2016–21). She is the 2017 World all-around champion and balance beam silver medalist and the 2018 ...

(both from the United States), and

Hitomi Hatakeda is a Japanese former artistic gymnast who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games. She is the 2019 Summer Universiade champion in the team, all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam. She is also the 2020 American Cup all-around bronze medalist. E ...

of Japan. While there, she received the highest score on floor exercise (13.700) and vault (14.566), second highest on balance beam (13.933), and tenth highest on uneven bars.

2021

In April, Gadirova was selected to represent Great Britain at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

alongside her twin sister Jessica,

Alice Kinsella Alice Nicole Kinsella (born 13 March 2001) is an Irish-English artistic gymnast and member of the British national gymnastics team. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team event, and was par ...

, and

. Later that month she withdrew as a precaution due to a minor injury and was replaced by

Phoebe Jakubczyk Phoebe Jakubczyk (born 26 August 2003) is a British artistic gymnast. Jakubczyk competed at the 2021 European Championships in Basel, Switzerland. She took the silver medal in the uneven bars final at the 2019 Szombathely World Challenge Cup. ...

. On 7 June, Gadirova was selected to represent

, alongside her twin sister Jessica, Alice Kinsella, and Amelie Morgan. 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 ...

, Gadirova qualified for the all-around final; additionally Great Britain qualified for the team final. During the team final, Gadirova performed on vault, balance beam, 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 had some minor issues on the uneven bars but still finished 13th place overall. Originally Gadirova was the first reserve for the floor exercise final and she was able to compete after

Simone Biles Simone Arianne Biles (; born March 14, 1997) is an American artistic gymnast. Her seven Olympic medals tied with Shannon Miller for the most Olympic medals won by an American gymnast. Having won 25 World Championship medals, she is the most de ...

withdrew. During the floor exercise event final, Gadirova finished in seventh place. In December 2021 Gadirova became a brand ambassador for gymnastics leotard manufacture
Milano Pro-Sport

2022

In March, Gadirova competed at the English Championships where she placed third on bars and second on floor. Later that month, Gadirova competed at the British Championships in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

where she won bronze in the all-around with a score of 52.350, placing behind her Aylesbury teammates Jessica Gadirova and Ondine Achampong. She then went on to win bronze on the uneven bars, gold on beam and silver on floor in the apparatus finals. In July Gadirova was selected to compete at the

alongside her sister Jessica, Achampong,

Georgia-Mae Fenton Georgia-Mae Fenton (born 2 November 2000) is an elite English artistic gymnast and a member of both the British national gymnastics team and the England Commonwealth Games gymnastics squad. She is the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth champion on un ...

, and

. While there she contributed scores on balance beam and floor exercise towards Great Britain's second place finish. During event finals Gadirova placed fifth on floor exercise. In September Gadirova competed at the Paris World Challenge Cup. She qualified to the balance beam and floor exercise finals. She won bronze on floor exercise behind Americans

Jordan Chiles Jordan Lucella Elizabeth Chiles (born April 15, 2001) is an American artistic gymnast. She represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the team event. She was a member of the team that won gold at the 2 ...

and

Shilese Jones Shilese Jones (born July 26, 2002) is an American artistic gymnast. She was a member of the teams that won gold at the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2022 World Championships and the 2018 Pan American Gymnastics Championships, 201 ...

and placed fourth on balance beam. Later that month Gadirova was named to the team to compete at the 2022 World Championships, once again alongside her twin sister Jessica, Achampong, Kinsella, and Fenton. Gadirova qualified to the floor exercise final and helped Great Britain qualify to the team final. During the team final Gadirova competed on floor exercise, helping Great Britain win the silver medal and achieve their highest placement at a World Championships.

2023

In March, she competed at the British championships, where she only competed on the beam, placing 12th with a score of 11.950. She was also awarded master gymnast. On 20 April, it was confirmed that she was injured.

Selected competitive skills

Competitive history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadirova, Jennifer 2004 births British people of Azerbaijani descent Irish people of Azerbaijani descent Azerbaijani gymnasts Irish gymnasts British female artistic gymnasts Living people Medalists at the Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships English twins Irish twins Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Great Britain Olympic medalists in gymnastics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Aylesbury Sportspeople from Dublin (city)