Kaylia Nemour

Nemour was born in Saint-Benoît-la-Forêt, France, 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.^[5]

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She began gymnastics when she was four years old.^[6] Nemour made her international debut at the 2017 Tournoi International where she placed 16th in the all-around in the espoir division.^[7] She competed on all four events at the Top 12 Series 2, helping her club win its matchup against Lyon.^[8]

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.^[9] Then at Series 4, she competed on the uneven bars and helped her club win against Haguenau.^[10] At the Top 12 Final she competed on uneven bars and floor exercise, helping Avoine win the silver medal overall.^[11] At the 2018 French Championships, she finished seventh all-around in the espoir division.^[12]

Nemour competed on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise at the 2019 Top 12 Finals, helping Avoine finish second.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[15]

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.^[16] 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.^[17] She helped Avoine win its matchup against Colomiers at the Top 12 Series 2.^[18]

In February 2020, Nemour competed on all four events at the Top 12 Series 3, helping Avoine win its matchup against Combs la Ville.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21]

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.^[22] She then competed at the French Championships. She only competed on the uneven bars but won the title ahead of the senior competitors.^[23] Nemour had to undergo two surgeries on her knees after developing osteochondritis.^[24]

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.^[25][26] 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.^[27][28]

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.^[29]

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.^[30] 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.^[31]

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.^[25] 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.^[32][33]

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.^[34][35] 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.^[36]

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.^[25][37] 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.^[38] In the event final, she 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.^[39][40]

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.^[41]

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.^[42][43]

Despite nursing an ankle injury,^[44] at the Olympic Games, Nemour qualified for the uneven bars final in first place, as 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.^[45] 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.^[46]

Nemour returned to competition at the International Gymnix competition in Montreal; she won gold in the all-around and on uneven bars and balance beam and placed seventh on floor exercise.^[47] In late April, Nemour competed at the Cairo World Cup; she won gold on uneven bars and balance beam and won silver on floor exercise behind Jana Mahmoud of Egypt.^[48]

In May, it was revealed that Nemour was leaving her longtime club Avoine-Beaumont.^[49] Nemour later alleged that her former coaches were verbally abusive from when she was a young age and that she "cried every day", but that she and her family had been told that it was expected of high-level gymnastics training.^[50] She also alleged that her coaches dismissed her when she said she was in pain and that she experienced abusive weight management.^[44]

At the 2025 World Championships Nemour qualified to the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam finals despite falling off the latter. During the all-around final, Nemour incurred a 0.3 point deduction on vault for stepping out of bounds on her landing and fell off of the balance beam. As a result, she finished fourth, 0.069 points behind bronze medalist Zhang Qingying and only 0.502 points behind gold medalist Angelina Melnikova.^[51] During the uneven bars final, Nemour won the gold medal with a score of 15.566, 1.066 points ahead of silver medalist Melnikova.^[52] In doing so, Nemour became the first gymnast from Africa to become a World Champion.^[53] During the balance beam final, Nemour won the silver medal behind Zhang.^[54]

In December, she released a book, L'ombre de l'or (English: The shadow of gold), about her experience in gymnastics.^[50]

Competitive history of Kaylia Nemour at the espoir level^[56]

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2017	Tournoi International	5	16
	Top 12 Series 2
	French Elite Championships
2018	Top 12 Series 3
	Top 12 Series 3
	Top 12 Final
	French Elite Championships		7

Competitive history of Kaylia Nemour at the junior level^[56]

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2019	Top 12 Final
	French Elite Championships					5
	Mediterranean Championships			4			5
	Swiss Cup Juniors
	Elite Gym Massilia		5
	Top 12 Series 2
2020	Top 12 Series 3
	French Test Meet
	Coupe d’Hiver
2021	Top 12 Championships
	French Elite Championships

Competitive history of Kaylia Nemour at the senior level^[56]

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2022	Arab Championships
2023	Top 12 Series 2
	Top 12 Series 3
	Top 12 Series 4
	Top 12 Finals
	African Championships
	Paris World Challenge Cup
	World Championships		8
	Arthur Gander Memorial
2024	Cottbus World Cup					4	6
	Baku World Cup					4
	Doha World Cup
	RomGym Trophy
	Olympic Games		5
	Arthur Gander Memorial
	Swiss Cup
	Top 12 Series 1
	Top 12 Series 2
2025	Prima Prova Serie A1
	International Gymnix						7
	Top 12 Series 4
	Top 12 Finals
	Cairo World Cup
	Final 8 Serie A1
	Tashkent World Challenge Cup
	Paris World Challenge Cup
	World Championships		4
2026	Cottbus World Cup				7
	Baku World Cup
	Cairo World Cup
	African Championships

• Fatima Bint Mubarak Women Sports Awards: Best Arab Women Athlete 2024
• Ahid of the National Order of Merit (Algeria)^[57]