Tokyo 2020 - Team GB's twin sisters Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova qualify for all-around gymnastics final
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Published 25/07/2021 at 15:33 GMT
Age proved no barrier to talent in Team GB's artistic gymnastics qualifying run as the 16-year-old twins sailed into Thursday's all-around final. The sisters put in excellent performances to highlight a great day for the team, who went through to the team finals in 6th place.
Biles nails most difficult vault in training ahead of Olympic bid
Team GB will have both Gadirova sisters in the finals of the all-around artistic gymnastics event in Tokyo following their qualification today.
Sixteen-year-old twins Jessica and Jennifer will compete against legendary US gymnast Simone Biles, a four-time gold medallist, in the final on Thursday.
With the top 24 qualifiers going through, though only a maximum of two per country as per Olympic rulings, Jessica and Jennifer qualified in ninth and 12th place respectively.
It was an excellent showing on their Olympic debuts at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, marking a good day's work for British gymnastics after they qualified for the team finals in sixth place with 163.396 points.
Alongside the Gadirova sisters, Alice Kinsella and Amelie Morgan also impressed for Team GB.
Jessica, who won gold in the floor exercise at the European Championships in Basel earlier this year, continued her form in the event by qualifying for the floor final.
She scored 14.033 to secure a fifth place finish, with her sister agonisingly missing out by just one place.
The twins were in ecstatic moods following their performances, with Jessica telling reporters: "To be honest, at the start until the finish I was nervous, but I just tried to be relaxed and tried not to treat it as 'Oh my god, it's an Olympic Games!' I tried to treat it like any other competition.
It’s so crazy to even think I could be an Olympian this young, being under the Olympic rings and competing in the most high-level competition ever. No words can describe how I'm feeling.
Jennifer said: "This is my first major, I'm at the Olympic Games and I've made an all-around final with the biggest gymnasts in the world and it only comes around every four years so it's just cool.
"I'm very happy. I went clean, I hit some new PBs, did a new tumble, and just did everything I could to the best of my ability.”
Biles awaits the twins in the final, though the American will not arrive in her typical flawless form.
Despite leading the individual scoring, the 24-year-old Texan's qualifying was marred by some erroneous landings, with Biles failing to qualify for the bars finals.
---
Watch every unmissable moment live from Tokyo 2020 across Eurosport, Eurosport app and discovery+. Download the Eurosport app for iOS and Android now.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement