Jessica Gadirova

Jessica Gadirova’s 2022 season in Liverpool produced two firsts for British women’s gymnastics: a world all-around medal, and a world floor title won at 18.

Significance

At the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, Gadirova won floor gold, all-around bronze and team silver. Her all-around bronze made her the first British woman to win a world all-around medal, and, at 18 years and 34 days, her floor title made her the youngest gymnast representing Great Britain to win world championship gold. She was also part of the team that won bronze at Tokyo 2020, Great Britain’s first Olympic women’s team medal since 1928.

She is best known on floor, where she won three consecutive European titles, but she is an all-arounder rather than a specialist, as her world and European all-around medals show.

Background

Gadirova was born in 2004 in Dublin, where her London-based family, originally from Azerbaijan, were living for a few months. She has a twin sister, Jennifer, who is also a gymnast. She trains in Aylesbury, where her coaches are Molly and Joshua Richardson.

European Championships

Gadirova won the European floor title three years running:

• 2021, Basel — floor gold, vault silver and all-around bronze.
• 2022, Munich — floor gold and team silver.
• 2023, Antalya — floor gold, the all-around title and team gold, Great Britain’s first European women’s team title.

World Championships and the Olympics

At Tokyo 2020, she was part of the British team that won bronze. In Liverpool in 2022, at a home World Championships, she won team silver — Great Britain’s best women’s team result at a World Championships to that point — then all-around bronze and floor gold.

Injury and return

Gadirova injured her knee (an anterior cruciate ligament tear) at the 2023 World Championships in Antwerp, which ruled her out of the Paris 2024 Olympics. She returned to competition in 2025, but withdrew from the 2025 World Championships team after a further injury setback. She was not part of Great Britain’s teams for the 2026 European Championships, Commonwealth Games or World Championships, and pre-event coverage of the March 2026 British Championships described her as still working towards a full return.

Where her career fits

Gadirova’s Liverpool results came in a period of steady growth for British women’s gymnastics, following Beth Tweddle’s world titles and the 2015 world team bronze. For the full Olympic timeline, see British gymnastics at the Olympics; for what judges look for on her best apparatus, see women’s floor.