Ellis Jacqueline O'Reilly (born 23 February 1998) is a retired English-born female

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 ...

, who represented

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 ...

at international competitions, most notably at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. She has competed at world championships, including the

2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Nanning, China at the Guangxi Gymnasium from 3–12 October 2014. The competition was the fourth time a World Artistic Gymnastics Championships has been held in the continent of Asia. ...

in Nanning, China. She was a three time silver medalist at the Northern European Championships. In 2017, O'Reilly announced her retirement from the sport, at the age of nineteen.

Career

Ellis trained in the Europa Gymnastics club, in

Crayford Crayford is a town and electoral ward in South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the historic county of Kent until 1965. The settlement deve ...

, under coach Sam James."Sportswoman of the month: Ellis O’Reilly's Rio dream come true"
irishtimes.com. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017. While competing in Ireland she represented Renmore Gymnastics Club in

Renmore Renmore () is a suburb of Galway City, Ireland, situated approximately 2 km to the east of the city. Renmore runs east along the coast and south of Dublin Road, from the shore of Lough Atalia on its west side to Lurgan Park on its east. The ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

. Ellis has a number of national titles to her name and was the 2014 & 2015 All Around Irish Champion. She made her International senior debut in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2014 at the European Championships. Since then Ellis has attended two World Championships (China in 2014 and in Glasgow in 2015). Another European Championships in Monpellier in 2015 and she competed at the inaugural Baku Games in 2015. At the Northern Europeans in Limerick in 2015, O’Reilly claimed a number of silver medals including Individual All Around and with the Irish Team.

Olympic Games 2016

At the World Championships in Glasgow in October 2015, Ellis secured Ireland their first ever place for an Irish female gymnast at an Olympic test event. In March 2016, she was selected as the gymnast to take that place and go forward to compete for a place at the Rio Olympics 2016. O'Reilly became the first Irish female gymnast to ever secure Olympic qualification at the Aquecce Rio Test Event, the final qualifying event for the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

games.

Personal life

Ellis took up the sport of gymnastics at age six. She qualifies for Ireland through her

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

-born grandfather. O'Reilly previously represented both Great Britain and Northern Ireland. O'Reilly is currently studying for her

A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s and is aiming at earning a place in university to study physical education. Her older sister Jenna is a four-time amateur British boxing champion so she was given the honour of leading Katie Taylor into the ring for her gold medal fight in London 2012. O'Reilly also has two younger brothers, Frank and Reggie, who are boxers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oreilly, Ellis 1998 births Living people Irish female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Ireland Gymnasts at the 2015 European Games European Games competitors for Ireland Sportspeople from Kent English people of Northern Ireland descent People from Eltham Sportspeople from the Royal Borough of Greenwich English female artistic gymnasts

Career

Olympic Games 2016

Personal life

See also

References