After the first team medal for a South American country in artistic gymnastics with Brazil, the sport witnessed another historic moment this Sunday, August 4, at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Kaylia Nemour from Algeria won the first medal for an African country in the history of the sport.
The athlete scored no less than 15.700 points in her performance to secure the gold medal on the uneven bars. Qiu Qiyuan from the People’s Republic of China took the silver with 15.500. The American Sunisa Lee clinched the bronze with 14.800 – Brazil did not have representatives in the final.
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Kaylia Nemour entered the competition ranked as one of the favorites for the uneven bars medal. In the qualifying round, she achieved the highest score with 15.600 points, more than 0.5 above the second place. Therefore, there was an expectation that she could achieve this unprecedented feat.
Even so, there were moments of tension because she would be the sixth to perform, right after the Chinese Qiu Qiyuan, who defeated her in the final of the 2023 World Championship. In other words, a performance lower than her rival’s could cost her a spot on the podium, depending on how it went.
The gymnast from the People’s Republic of China did her part and scored 15.500, a substantial improvement over the qualifying round. But the representative from Algeria remained undeterred and also improved her performance. Hitting all the elements and the dismount, she scored 15.700, already securing an unprecedented spot on the podium for the African continent.
However, it was only a matter of time to also secure the gold medal. Helen Kevric from Germany and Sunisa Lee from the USA (the gymnasts who finished the final on the uneven bars) did not threaten Nemour’s score at any moment, who waited until the end to celebrate with the Algerian flag on her back.