PARIS 2024 Olympic Games: Algerian Nemour shines, much to France’s chagrin

Kaylia Nemour knows she belongs when she takes on Simone Biles and other gymnastics rivals at the Paris Olympics. Kaylia Nemour, 17, one of the world’s best on the uneven bars, was born in France, grew up there and still trains there.

She obtained the best score on her favourite apparatus during the women’s team qualifications on Sunday and will be aiming for the gold medal in this discipline. Sadly for the host country of the Olympic Games, Kaylia will be wearing Algeria’s colours.

A dispute between the French Gymnastics Federation and Kaylia’s club, Avoine Beaumont, resulted in the gymnast choosing to adopt her father’s Algerian nationality. The long-running dispute was resolved after the Sports Minister intervened, following an initial refusal by the federation to release her, which could have jeopardised her participation in the Paris Games.

Meanwhile, Kaylia Nemour’s impressive score of 15.600 on Sunday was not surpassed by any of her rivals. On all apparatus, it was the second-highest score of the day, surpassed only by Biles’ first vault with a score of 15.800. On all four events, the Franco-Algerian was consistent and on course to qualify for the all-around final.

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The disagreement between Kaylia – who has dual nationality – and the French federation began after she suffered from a bone and cartilage condition and required surgery on both knees in 2021. The French federation believed that her problems were due to overtraining during a period of growth and decided to postpone her return to competition, despite a favourable opinion from her surgeon.

This long dispute ended last year when Kaylia Nemour was finally allowed to wear the Algerian leotard. Since then the gymnast has enjoyed a meteoric rise to success.

At the world championships last year, she won a silver medal on the uneven bars, the first world medal won by a gymnast representing an African nation. She was also African all-round champion and has an element to her name in the Code of Points.

However, if she wins a medal next week – no African nation has ever won an Olympic medal in gymnastics – it will be Algeria that goes down in history.