Paris 2024 gymnastics: Kaylia Nemour wins Algeria’s first Olympic gymnastics title on the uneven bars

Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour had the crowd at Bercy Arena in the palm of her hand Sunday afternoon (4 August) as she swung her way into history at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The French-born gymnast struck uneven bars gold with a massive 15.700 score, holding off a strong challenge from the People’s Republic of China’s Qiu Qiyuan, the reigning world champion on the event. Qiu scored 15.600.

Two-time Olympic all-around medallist Suni Lee grabbed a third medal of these Games in third at 14.800.

“It really is my lifelong dream,” Nemour told Olympics.com. “It’s been a goal since 2020. Even I had my doubts before I stepped on the bar, I told myself it wasn’t possible that I’d be Olympic champion. And I passed, it was incredible.”

Nemour’s triumph is a first for Algeria and any African gymnast at the Olympic Games. She is Algeria’s sixth ever Olympic champion.

“I am very happy to have won this medal for Algeria. I hope I made them proud,” she said. “It’s true that the pressure was very high the last days, but I managed to stay calm and focused. I was able to perform my routine (well) today.”

A year ago, Nemour made history for her nation as she won world silver on the event. It was the first medal by an African gymnast at the World Gymnastics Championships.

Her 2024 season has been brilliant, with World Cup wins and massive 15.500 or higher scores in Cottbus, Doha and Baku. Those performances marked the 17-year-old as a favourite for gold in Paris.

Nemour was overcome with emotion as soon as her feet hit the mat on her stuck double layout dismount. Qiu embraced her as the score came up, with Lee coming over to congratulate the Algerian.

“Everyone did incredible. It was super cool to just see them because I think only we can really understand all the work that we put in,” Lee told reporters afterward. “So seeing all of them go up there and do everything that they were supposed to do after watching them in practice, this is just super cool and I’m so happy for everyone.”