Kaylia Nemour

Athletes competing in women’s artistic gymnastics from 16 countries set, matched, or broke records for their nations at the Olympic Games in Paris, France, making history in the sport and inspiring future generations of athletes to follow in their footsteps.

ALGERIA

One of the biggest stories of the entire quad was Kaylia Nemour‘s fight with the French federation, which tried to force her to leave her gym, Avoine Beaumont. When she instead opted to represent Algeria internationally, the federation attempted to block her from qualifying to world championships last year by denying her

Thankfully, Nemour won her battle and was able to qualify to both worlds and then the Olympics, and she’s since been making history for her new nation, winning the first world championships medal for both Algeria and the African continent with a silver medal on bars last year, and then doing the same in Paris with her gold.

The second athlete to represent Algeria in women’s gymnastics at the Olympic Games, Nemour smashed every record set by fellow formerly French competitor Farah Boufadene in 2016, including finishing first on bars, an improvement from 72nd place; fifth in the all-around, an improvement from 59th place; 22nd on floor, an improvement from 80th place; and 32nd on beam, an improvement from 80th place.

BRAZIL

After a record-demolishing competition in Tokyo three years ago, Rebeca Andrade returned with even more on her to-do list, breaking individual records on every apparatus aside from vault – she already set the standard there with gold in 2020! – and helping the team to a historic finish as well.

Her biggest individual achievement was winning the gold medal on floor, becoming the first to medal on this apparatus for Brazil and breaking her own record from Tokyo, where she matched Daiane dos Santos‘ fifth-place record from 2004. She also finished second to win silver in the all-around here, matching her record from 2020, fourth on beam to break Flavia Saraiva‘s fifth-place record from 2016, and 10th on the uneven bars to break Daniele Hypolito‘s 14th-place record from 2004.

The team’s historic finish was one of the most incredible moments of the Games, with the Brazilian women winning a first ever team medal by narrowly edging out the British squad to win the bronze. Prior to Paris, the best team finish for Brazil was eighth place, something the ladies achieved first in 2008 and then repeated in 2016.

CANADA

In her fourth Olympic Games, we saw Ellie Black again lead her team and support others with heart and spirit, but at the same time, she once again continued to have great individual performances, making the all-around and vault finals while helping her team match their historic fifth-place finish that the Canadians set in 1984 and repeated in 2016, where Black was also key to the team’s success.

Individually, Black’s sixth-place finish on vault tied Kelly Brown’s record from 1984, while her 16th-place finish on bars tied Brittany Rogers‘ record from 2012. The only record Black is now not part of is floor, so I guess we’ll have to see her again in LA 2028!

COLOMBIA

Former U.S. elite and University of Alabama standout Luisa Blanco made waves when she showed up at Colombia’s national championships last summer. Though it was too late for her to make a push for the worlds qualifiers, she was selected to represent Colombia at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, where she made the all-around final and finished as the top Olympic-eligible athlete to earn the continental berth for Paris.

At the Games, Blanco broke every record for Colombia, which made its first Olympics appearance in 2008. Her biggest history-making moment was becoming the first Colombian woman to reach a final, finishing 23rd in the all-around to break Jessica Gil Ortiz‘s 42nd-place record from 2012. Additionally, she finished 42nd on beam to break Gil Ortiz’s 61st-place record from 2012, 42nd on floor to break Gil Ortiz’s 53rd-place record from 2012, and 48th on bars to break the country’s 61st-place record, set by Gil Ortiz in 2012 and matched by Catalina Escobar in 2016.

HAITI

Though she missed out on qualifying for the Olympic Games at last year’s world championships and Pan Am Games, Lynnzee Brown‘s scores were good enough to make her a contender for the tripartite nomination, which recognizes athletes from nations that historically have not had high representation at the Games.

As the first athlete to compete in women’s artistic gymnastics for Haiti at the Olympics, Brown set program records by finishing 53rd in the all-around, 64th on floor, 70th on beam, and 74th on bars.

INDONESIA

One of the most heartbreaking moments at worlds last year was watching Rifda Irfanaluthfi fall and get injured on bars in what was her third attempt to qualify for an Olympic Games. However, when her score came up, Irfanaluthfi was able to secure the very last available spot for Paris as the host country berth was reallocated into the all-around pool when France qualified a team.

Though she wasn’t able to get back to full health in time for the Games and was only able to compete on one apparatus, Irfanaluthfi made history as the first Indonesian woman to compete in gymnastics, setting the program record on bars by finishing in 80th place.

ISRAEL

In her second Olympic Games, we saw Lihie Raz put up one of Israel’s best overall performances in history, matching or breaking three separate longstanding individual rankings after previously breaking the vault record in 2020.

Raz finished 31st in the all-around qualifications to match Nancy Goldsmith’s record set in 1984, at a Games that was boycotted by the Soviets and its allies during the Cold War. She also finished 33rd to break Goldsmith’s 54th-place record from 1984, and her 50th-place finish on bars broke Ruth Abeles’ 55th-place record from 1960.

ITALY

One of my favorite moments of this year’s Olympic Games was watching Alice D’Amato become a superstar for the Italian program, becoming the first Italian woman to win a gold medal in gymnastics when she stunned to win the beam title. Both she and teammate Manila Esposito, who won the bronze, had already made history on this apparatus by being the first Italians to reach this final, breaking Vanessa Ferrari‘s 16th-place record from 2012, but with their podium finishes they can now officially say they are the best beam workers in Italian history.

Additionally, D’Amato finished fifth on the uneven bars to break Miranda Cicognani’s ninth-place record from 1960, and though she didn’t break the all-around record, her fourth-place finish in the final is the best in the modern history of the sport, with 1948 Olympian Laura Micheli the only athlete to rank higher, having finished second at the London Games (though the women were not recognized individually with medals at that Games). D’Amato was also integral to the team’s medal-winning performance, with the Italians earning the silver for the second time in history 96 years after the Italian women stood on the podium in 1928, the first time women’s artistic gymnastics was contested at an Olympic Games.

NEW ZEALAND

Longtime elite standout Georgia-Rose Brown represented Australia at four world championships, most recently in 2022, but was never able to make it to the Olympics after giving it a run in 2012, 2016, and 2020. With Australia earning a team spot for Paris, it seemed like she could possibly be in the mix, but rather than potentially miss out for a fourth time, Brown opted to change her nationality so she could represent New Zealand, which was guaranteed an all-around berth via the continental championships.

Brown ended up qualifying via the uneven bars through the world cup series – a lucky break as New Zealand’s Olympic Committee ended up not allowing the continental qualifier to compete due to a low world ranking, which likely also would’ve been the case with Brown – and she ultimately broke three of Courtney McGregor‘s records from 2016 in Paris, including finishing 26th on bars, an improvement from 70th place; 31st in the all-around, an improvement from 41st place; and 54th on beam, an improvement from 57th place.

PANAMA

This marked the second time an athlete from Panama competed in women’s gymnastics at the Olympic Games, with Hillary Heron adding her name to the record books three times after impressive performances on her two best events.

By finishing 44th in all-around qualifications, Heron matched Isabella Amado‘s record from 2016, and she also finished 29th on floor, breaking Amado’s 63rd-place record from the same year. As the first Panamanian woman to complete two vaults at the Games, Heron also set the program record on this apparatus with her 14th-place finish.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippines was one of the only nations without a full team to maximize the eligible number of individual competitors for a program, with three Filipino Americans qualifying via world championships, the world cup series, and the continental championships over the past year. At the nation’s second appearance at an Olympic Games, all three women were able to smash the records set by Evelyn Magluyan 60 years ago at Tokyo 1964.

First, we have Aleah Finnegan, whose 17th-place ranking on vault was an improvement from 83rd place in 1964. Next up, 2020 U.S. Olympic alternate Emma Malabuyo finished 25th on floor, an improvement from 82nd place, and 57th on beam, an improvement from 83rd place. Finally, Levi Jung-Ruivivar finished 40th in both the all-around and on bars, both an improvement from 83rd place.

PORTUGAL

In her third Olympic Games, Filipa Martins – who already held four of Portugal’s five Individual records – continued to be living proof that her gymnastics is aging like a fine wine.

Martins became the first Portuguese woman to qualify to an Olympic all-around final in Paris, where her 20th-place finish broke her 37th-place record from 2016.

SLOVENIA

After missing out on the opportunity to contend for an Olympic spot at world championships last quad, Lucija Hribar had a superb performance last year to secure the second-to-last available all-around berth.

In Paris, Hribar finished 55th in the all-around to break Mojca Mavric’s longstanding 62nd-place record from 2000, which was the first time a Slovenian woman had competed in Olympic gymnastics, and she also finished 42nd on bars to break Sasa Golob‘s 70th-place record from 2012.

SOUTH AFRICA

In her second Olympic Games, we unfortunately saw Caitlin Rooskrantz – who first put South African gymnastics on the map with her stunning uneven bars routines last quad – have to withdraw from the all-around competition due to a foot injury on floor.

Still, she put up her country’s best performance on bars by finishing 25th to break her own 39th-place record from 2020, and despite her injury, her 73rd-place finish on floor broke Naveen Daries‘ 77th-place record, also from 2020.

TAIWAN

The fabulous beam worker Ting Hua-Tien made her second Olympics appearance this year after qualifying through the world cup series.

This year, she decided to focus solely on her best apparatus, and though she again missed out on the final with a set that didn’t quite go her way, she still managed to tie her record-breaking performance from 2020 by again finishing in 50th place.

UNITED STATES

The U.S. women have won gold medals in every category at the Olympic Games, so now the game is all about adding to their medal collections, which they managed to do in Paris by winning seven individual medals in addition to the team gold, the fourth for the United States after also winning in 1996, 2012, and 2016.

In her third Olympic appearance, Simone Biles won her second all-around title after also topping the podium in 2016, and this was also the seventh all-around gold for the U.S. women, with other winners including Mary Lou Retton in 1984, Carly Patterson in 2004, Nastia Liukin in 2008, Gabby Douglas in 2012, and Sunisa Lee in 2020. Fun fact – with seven all-around titles, the U.S. women now match the Soviet Union for most WAG all-around wins in Olympic history!

Additionally, Biles winning the gold on vault was the second time a U.S. woman has stood atop the vault podium, with Biles matching the first-place record she set in 2016.

Article by Lauren Hopkins