Post-Olympic worlds allow small federations to shine — Amanda Yap talks about making beam final

Kaylia Nemour of Algeria, the 2024 Olympic bars champion, is also now the 2025 world bars champion — the first gymnast representing an African nation to win a world championship title. Nemour also won a silver on beam and came in fourth in the all-around, showing that she is more than just the most amazing bars worker on earth. 

No, seriously: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x1jQo7DTe4

Amanda Yap of Singapore qualified to the beam final, becoming the first Singaporean gymnast (male or female) to make a world gymnastics event final. Yap surprised even herself by qualifying, as she had already returned home to take her O-Level exams — critical international high school-level standardized tests. She flew back to Jakarta to compete, finished sixth in the final and flew home again. Now she’s got her sights on the Olympics. 

Cameroon had two gymnasts at worlds for the first time ever: Lisa Mebar and Moira Teneku. Neither made a final, but this is a stunning achievement for a small nation. 

Here is Mebar in action on floor in qualifications: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJEWJSE1ZTo

Seema Tello of Syria had never traveled outside Syria until she flew to Jakarta. Her gym was bombed during Syria’s civil war and the equipment there was destroyed. She had never competed on a spring floor until her worlds debut. 

She gave an interview while in Jakarta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5quKpDZ11z4

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I’m eager to see where all of these athletes go from here. 

The all-around podium in Jakarta was comprised of women from “the big three”: Russian Angelina Melnikova, competing as a neutral athlete, won gold; Leanne Wong of the United States won silver; and China’s Zhang Qingying won bronze. Melnikova had herself a worlds after four years away from international competition, also winning gold on vault and silver on bars.

Team USA’s squad put athletes in every final but walked away with just Wong’s all-around medal and Joscelyn Roberson’s vault bronze. Dulcy Caylor contributed strong routines across the board but showed some nerves along the way. Skye Blakeley, coming back from Achilles surgery, finished just out of the medals, in fourth, on beam. 

China’s Deng Yalan, a vault specialist in her first international competition in a decade, was heralded for her talent in the event. But she had a heartbreaking Did Not Start (DNS) after balking on her first vault and thus being unable to try again. Zhang won beam for China, carrying on a strong tradition for the country’s athletes. 

And while I’ll never bemoan living through the Age of Simone Biles, it was awesome to see those three superpower countries in our sport have a real battle for the all-around medal and such a mix of competitive athletes from big programs and new stars from smaller ones in the event finals. 

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Other gym news

The Gymternet has a comprehensive list of the world records broken by female athletes at worlds, as well as the overall results. 

College Gym News has a Judge’s Inquiry column on front double fulls on floor exercise. 

Adorable video of Team Great Britain’s Ruby Evans arriving home from worlds (and speaking Welsh!): 

Ellie Black visited UCLA with Gracie Kramer: 

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Five at The IX: Amanda Yap on GymCastic

Yap is the first Singaporean athlete, male or female, to make a world gymnastics event final. After her beam final routine, she gave a very excited interview to GymCastic.