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A rising star in gymnastics finds her home at the Paris Olympics

A rising star in gymnastics finds her home at the Paris Olympics

When Kaylia Nemour competes at the Olympic Games in Paris with Simone Biles and her gymnastics rivals, she feels right at home.

The 17-year-old athlete, one of the world’s best on the uneven bars, was born in France, grew up there and still trains here.

She achieved the best score on her favorite apparatus during the women’s team qualifications on Sunday and will be aiming for the gold medal in that discipline. Unfortunately for the host country of the Olympics, she competes for Algeria. The situation is due to a dispute between the French gymnastics federation and Nemour’s club of Avoine Beaumont, which has led the gymnast to embrace her father’s Algerian nationality.

The long-running crisis was resolved after France’s sports minister intervened after the sports federation initially refused to release the gymnast, which could have jeopardized her presence in Paris.

Nemour’s massive score of 15.600 on Sunday was unmatched by any of her rivals. It was the second-highest score of the day on any apparatus, bettered only by Biles’ first vault score of 15.800. Nemour was consistent across all four events and also qualified fifth for the all-around final, where no French athletes will be represented.

“I am one of the best and I can improve things. I still have some time to work,” she said.

The dispute between Nemour, who has dual nationality, and the French federation began after Nemour suffered from a bone and cartilage disorder in 2021 and required surgery on both knees. The federation believed her problems were the result of overtraining while her body was maturing and decided to delay her return to competition, despite her surgeon giving the green light.

The long dispute ended last year when she was finally allowed to wear an Algerian leotard. Since switching, Nemour has been on a path to success. At last year’s world championships, she won a silver medal on the uneven bars, the first world medal by a gymnast representing an African country. She is also an African all-around champion and has an element named after her in the Code of Points.

Despite her decision to pursue her Olympic dream under a different flag, the crowd at the Bercy Arena gave her a huge round of applause after she completed her extremely difficult routine on the parallel bars on Sunday.

“I was super happy, I didn’t necessarily expect it,” she said, adding that she felt both French and Algerian on a day when her stunning performance wowed fans in both countries. But if she wins a medal next week — no African country has ever won an Olympic gymnastics medal before — it will be Algeria that will make history.

(With input from agencies.)