Occupation
Athlete
Spoken languages
English
Club
Aylesbury Gymnastics Academy [England]
Coach
Molly Richardson [club]; Joshua Richardson [club]
Sporting relatives
Her twin sister Jessica competed alongside her at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (gymnastics.sport, 02 Sep 2021)
International senior debut
2020 for Great Britain, in Milwaukee, WI, United States (olympics.com, 07 Aug 2022)
Injuries
She suffered a minor injury to her left wrist in December 2020. (Instagram profile, 10 Jun 2021)
Reason for taking up the sport
Her mother introduced her and her twin sister to gymnastics because she felt they needed an outlet for their energy. "When we were younger we used to be hyper, climbing on everything and our mum put us in lots of sports but we just clicked with gymnastics." (Angela Walker, BBC News YouTube channel, 03 Apr 2019; theacademy.me, 01 Jul 2018)
Milestones
She was part of the first British artistic gymnastics team to win a medal in the women's team event at the Olympic Games for 93 years [since 1928] when they claimed bronze at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. (news.sky.com, 27 Jul 2021; SportsDeskOnline, 12 Oct 2022)
Most memorable sporting achievement
Winning a bronze medal in the team event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (gymnastics.sport, 02 Sep 2021)
Hero / Idol
US artistic gymnast Simone Biles. (theacademy.me, 01 Jul 2018)
Most influential person in career
Coaches Molly Richardson and Joshua Richardson. (olympics.com, 07 Aug 2022)
Philosophy / Motto
"Think big, trust yourself and make it happen." (Instagram profile, 17 May 2021)
Additional information
General
TWIN AND TEAMMATE
Her twin sister Jessica has competed alongside her on the Great Britain team. "We do spend every second with each other. But I feel like sometimes we do need that independence from each other and just focus on ourselves without her always being right by my side. We are individuals at the end of the day, so we do enjoy having our time apart but not if it's too long until we see each other again." (olympics.com, 15 Jun 2021)
FAMILY BACKGROUND
She and her twin sister Jessica were born in Dublin, Ireland. Their parents are from Azerbaijan and moved to London, England, in 2001. "In 2004, we moved to Dublin for a few months for work [which is when the twins were born]. As a result, the girls now have both Irish and British citizenships," their father Natig said. (olympics.com, 07 Aug 2022; haqqin.az, 24 Apr 2021)
Last update : 2022-10-12
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