Youna Dufournet

Who is Youna Dufournet?

Youna Dufournet is a French gymnast, the 2009 World Vault bronze medalist, 2009 all-around champion of the Mediterranean Games, and a 2012 Olympian.

In addition to her vaulting medal, Dufournet placed fifth in the all-around at the World Championships, the highest placement ever for a female French gymnast. She is France's first female medalist on vault, and only the fifth to medal at all in World or Olympic competition, following 2004 Olympic bars champion Émilie Le Pennec, 1995 World floor bronze medalist Ludivine Furnon, 1996 World bars bronze medalist Isabelle Severino and World Floor bronze medalist Cassy Vericel. She also won a place in the 2011 World Championships uneven bars final.

After severely injuring her knee at the 2010 French National Championships, tension began to develop between Youna and her coaches. Youna felt she was being pushed too hard during her recovery period, and decided to change gyms in the run-up to the Olympic games.

Youna arrived at the 2012 Olympic Games as a favorite to make the uneven bars final, but during her qualifying routine a grip slipped and she fell from the apparatus. Despite that the slip was due to no fault of her gymnastics, the fall was deducted and she placed 17th on bars, well below the 8th place needed to advance. Youna has since vowed to continue on in hopes of making the 2016 Rio Olympics.