Kaylia Nemour, a 17-year-old gymnast, was given approval to represent Algeria at the African Championships.
But ALGERIA got excluded from African Championship!
The Algerian gymnastics team was not allowed to participate in the last African Championship in Morocco, which took place from April 30 to May 7, 2024.
The decision to withdraw was communicated by the president of the Algerian Gymnastics Federation to his Moroccan counterpart.
The primary reason for this decision was the lack of approval from the Algerian Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The championship in Marrakech served as a qualifier event for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Therefore, the Algerian gymnastics team’s absence from the championship may have implications on their participation in the upcoming Olympics.
This withdrawal follows a period of escalating tensions between Algeria and Morocco, including a dispute over a football match and a handball tournament where jerseys featuring maps of the respective countries caused controversy.
The FRENCH dispute
The French international champion Kaylia Nemour decided to change her FIG nationality due to disagreements with the French team doctor. Despite consistently outperforming many French senior team gymnasts, Nemour had to take a break from the sport due to a joint condition in her knees.
Her personal doctor cleared her for competition, but the French national team doctor did not. In response, Nemour and her coaches explored changing her nationality, and she obtained approval from the International Gymnastics Federation in July 2022. However, the French federation refused to release her, causing her to miss qualifiers for the world championships. Despite this, Nemour represented Algeria at the Arab Championships and won the gold medal on bars.
Nemour and her family battled with the French federation to release her
in time for the African Championships.
The federation had previously released two gymnasts to represent Algeria
without a waiting period, making their decision with Nemour seem personal.
Speculations suggest that the federation’s decision may have been related to their disagreement with Nemour’s club over the 2024 Olympic Project. The federation eventually released Nemour to Algeria following a meeting with the French Minister for Sport and the Olympic & Paralympic Games.
With her difficult uneven bar routine, Nemour qualified for the Olympic Games.
For more detailed information, you may find these sources useful:
1. Algeria withdraws from African Gymnastics Championship in Morocco (https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/details/149150/algeria-withdraws-from-african-gymnastics.html)
2. Row over map of Morocco on shirt sees Confederation Cup game… (https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c51new92lqjo)
3. Tanzanian Team’s Algerian Coach Accuses Morocco of… (https://barlamantoday.com/2024/01/15/tanzanian-teams-algerian-coach-accuses-morocco-of-manipulating-african-football/)
4. Nemour Given All-Clear to Represent Algeria at African… (https://thegymter.net/2023/05/16/nemour-given-all-clear-to-represent-algeria-at-african-championships/)
5. Kaylia Nemour – THE GYMTERNET… (https://thegymter.net/kaylia-nemour/)