Kaylia Nemour

Kaylia Nemour ( ar, كيليا نمور; born 30 December 2006) is a French Algerian artistic gymnast. She currently represents Algeria internationally. She is the 2024 Olympic champion on the uneven bars and the first gymnast from any African nation to win an Olympic medal. At the 2023 World Championships, she became the first African gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships, winning silver on the uneven bars. She is the 2023 African all-around champion.

Early life

Nemour was born in Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt, France, on December 30, 2006 to a French mother and an Algerian father. Her father's parents were from Jijel Province, Beni Meslem tribe, Algeria, making Kaylia and her father dual nationals. Nemour was brought up in her mother's Catholic faith. She began gymnastics when she was four years old.

Early gymnastics career

Nemour made her international debut at the 2017 Tournoi International where she placed 16th in the all-around in the espoir division. She competed on all four events at the Top 12 Series 2, helping her club win its matchup against Lyon.

Nemour's first event of 2018 was the Top 12 Series 3. She contributed on uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise toward Avoine's win over Rouen. Then at Series 4, she competed on the uneven bars and helped her club win against Haguenau. At the Top 12 Final she competed on uneven bars and floor exercise, helping Avoine win the silver medal overall. At the 2018 French Championships, she finished seventh all-around in the espoir division.

Junior gymnastics career

2019

Nemour competed on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise at the 2019 Top 12 Finals, helping Avoine finish second. At the French Championships, she won the all-around for her age division; additionally, she scored the highest on floor exercise and uneven bars, and third highest on vault. In September, she competed at the Mediterranean Championships where she helped France finish third as a team. Individually, Nemour placed first in the all-around, on uneven bars, and on balance beam, fourth on vault, and fifth on floor exercise.

Nemour competed at the Swiss Cup Juniors where she helped France finish second as a team. Individually, she won silver in the all-around behind Ana Bărbosu. Then at the Elite Gym Massilia, she placed fifth in the all-around. In the event finals, she won the gold medal on the uneven bars and bronze on the floor exercise behind Viktoria Listunova and Jennifer Gadirova. She helped Avoine win its matchup against Colomiers at the Top 12 Series 2.

2020–21

In February 2020, Nemour competed on all four events at the Top 12 Series 3, helping Avoine win its matchup against Combs la Ville. Most competitions were canceled or postponed in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. She returned to competition in October at the French Test Meet, winning the junior all-around title by over three points. She competed at the Coupe d’Hiver as part of the Blue Team, in which they finished first. Additionally, Nemour finished first in the all-around.

In 2021, Nemour competed at the Top 12 Championships. She had the highest scores of the competition on the three events she competed, and she helped Avoine win the title. She then competed at the French Championships. She only competed on the uneven bars but won the title ahead of the senior competitors. Nemour had to undergo two surgeries on her knees after developing osteochondritis.

Senior gymnastics career

2022

Nemour became age-eligible for senior international competition in 2022. Although her personal doctor cleared her to resume training after the knee surgeries, the French national team doctor was unwilling to do so. The French Gymnastics Federation also wanted Nemour to leave her club and train in Paris under their supervision, but Nemour did not want to. As a result, Nemour opted to change her nationality to represent Algeria. In July, the International Gymnastics Federation approved the nationality change; however, because the French Gymnastics Federation blocked the request, Nemour would not be able to represent Algeria in FIG-sanctioned competitions (such as World Championships or African Championships) until July 2023.

In October, Nemour made her debut for Algeria at the Arab Championships, which is not an FIG-sanctioned event. While there, she helped Algeria win gold in the team competition. Individually, she won gold on the uneven bars and silver on balance beam behind Jana Abdelsalam.

2023

Nemour was able to compete at the French domestic events at the beginning of the season. She helped Avoine win its matchups at the Top 12 Series 2, 3, and 4. At the Top 12 Finals, she scored 15.350 on the uneven bars, the highest score of the entire competition, to help Avoine win the championship.

In early 2023, an online petition began circulating, pressuring the French Gymnastics Federation to release Nemour and allow her to compete at the upcoming African Championships, which served as a qualifying event for the 2023 World Championships. In May, Thierry Vildary, a French sports journalist, released a report documenting the French Gymnastics Federation's abuse of other gymnasts. A result of the report was that the federation released Nemour, which allowed her to compete at the African Championships two weeks later.

At the African Championships Nemour helped Algeria finish third as a team. Individually, she won the all-around ahead of reigning African champion Caitlin Rooskrantz and Jana Abdelsalam. In doing so, Nemour earned an individual berth to compete at the World Championships later in the year. In September, Nemour competed at the Paris World Challenge Cup, where she took the silver medal on the balance beam as well as bronze on the uneven bars.

At the World Championships in Antwerp, Nemour qualified for the uneven bars final in third with a score of 14.733 and the individual all-around final with a total score of 53.699. These placements made her the first Algerian gymnast to qualify for a World Championship final. Furthermore, by finishing in 13th place in the all-around during the qualification round, Nemour qualified as an individual to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. In the all-around final, she placed eighth, the highest placement for any gymnast representing an African nation, highlighted by a 15.200 on the uneven bars. In the event final, she missed her opening combination but still scored 15.066, less than a tenth behind Qiu Qiyuan of China and earning the silver medal, the first World Championship medal received by an African gymnast.

After the World Championships, Nemour competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial and won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Júlia Soares and Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos.

2024

Nemour began the year competing at the World Cups in Cottbus, Baku, and Doha. She won gold on the uneven bars at all three competitions. At Baku, she also scored a bronze on floor exercise, and at Doha, she won silver on balance beam and gold on floor exercise.

At the Olympic Games, Nemour qualified for the uneven bars final in first place, as a well as the all-around final. During the all-around final, Nemour scored a 55.899 and finished fifth in the competition, the highest placement for an African gymnast in an Olympic all-around final. During the uneven bars final, Nemour earned a score 15.700 to win the gold medal ahead of Qiu Qiyuan and Sunisa Lee. In doing so, Nemour became the first gymnast from the African continent to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics, as well as an Olympic medal of any color in gymnastics.

Eponymous skill

Nemour has an uneven bars release named after her in the Code of Points. The release is commonly called the "inbar Nabieva," and she first performed it at the 2023 African Championships.

Competitive history

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nemour, Kaylia
2006 births
Living people
French female artistic gymnasts
Algerian female artistic gymnasts
21st-century French sportswomen
21st-century Algerian sportswomen
Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Algerian people of French descent
French sportspeople of Algerian descent
Gymnasts at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic gymnasts for Algeria
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Algeria