Nina Derwael

At 24 years old, Nina Derwael has this physical status:

Nina Derwael (Dutch pronunciation: [dral] or [dra]; born 26 March 2000) is a Belgian artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (2018, 2019), and a two-time European champion (2017, 2018) on the uneven bars. She is both the 2019 European Games champion on the balance beam and a two-time Belgian national all-around champion (2015, 2018).

She represented Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2020 Olympics in Belgium. She led the Belgian gymnastics team to their first-ever team final, where they placed eighth, in the 2020 Olympics. She qualified for the all-around final, where she finished sixth and claimed the gold medal in the uneven bars final, the first Olympic medal for a Belgian female gymnast. She is the first Belgian gymnast to qualify at the World Championships, becoming the first female World champion and the first to become a European champion.

Early life

Derwael was born in Sint-Truiden on March 26, 2000. Nico Derwael, a former professional football player, and her mother, Marijke Lammens, played handball and table tennis. Despite her gym's rules that children could only begin when they were three years old, she began artistic gymnastics when she was two years old. She went to Ghent to study at the Belgian national team training center and enroll in a boarding school when she was eleven years old.

Personal life

In Ghent, Derwael is studying Event Management at the Artevelde University of Applied Sciences. She speaks Dutch, French, and English. A portrait of Derwael and her colleague Maellyse Brassart together in a split with tennis player Novak Djokovic went viral at the 2020 Olympics.

Derwael joined Belgium's Dancing with the Stars in the third season after the 2020 Olympics. She was named the season's champion after receiving the highest rating in the final episode.

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Junior career

Derwael made her international debut at the 2013 Elite Gym Massilia in Marseille, France, finishing eighth in the all-around, and the Belgian team placed seventh.

In the all-around and eighth final at the International Gymnix in Montreal, Derwael finished fifteenth and eighth in the uneven bars event final. She came fifth in the all-around at the Belgian Championships in July. The Belgian junior team came second after Romania and France next year, and Romania came in second place. She was selected to compete in the Junior European Championships alongside Axelle Klinckaert, Rune Hermans, Jelle Beullens, and Cindy Vandenhole, who finished sixth in the team competition. She earned the bronze medal in the all-around at Elite Gym Massilia, behind Daria Spiridonova and Giorgia Campana, and the Belgian team captured the bronze medal behind Italy and Russia. She also placed fifth in the uneven bars and the floor exercise finals. In Charleroi, she finished 14th in the all-around in the season's last competition on the season. She captured the silver medal on the uneven bars, defeating Angelina Melnikova and placing fifth on the floor exercise in the event finals.

Derwael won the gold medal in the all-around, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, and the silver medal on the vault at the Belgian Championships. She earned the gold medal in the all-around race and helped the Belgian team finish second behind Germany in the Flanders Team Challenge. Axelle Klinckaert and Julie Meyers won the silver medal in the team competition behind Russia at the European Youth Summer Olympic Festival, and she and her brother won the silver medal. In the all-around final, Derwael came in fourth. She earned the silver medal on the uneven bars, tied fifth on the balance beam, and received the bronze medal on the floor exercise in the event finals. Laura Jurca and Enus Mariani were ranked fifth in her final junior competition in the all-around and the floor exercises and she took the bronze medal on the balance beam.

Senior career

In 2016, Derwael became age-eligible for senior international competition. She made her senior debut at the International Gymnix, where she earned the team gold medal and finished seventh in the all-around. She earned the gold medal on the uneven bar and the silver medal on the balance beam, respectively, in the event finals. She broke her hand while training on the balance beam and missed the Olympic Test Event in March. She returned to the European Championships, and the Belgian team finished ninth in the qualification round. The Belgian national team competed in the Dutch Championships, and Derwael came in second place in the all-around. She captured the silver medal on the uneven bars in the event finals, behind Laura Waem and finishing fifth on the floor exercise. Senna Deriks, Rune Hermans, Galle Mys, and Laura Waem were among Belgium's finalists in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where they finished twelfth in the qualification round. Derwael was the third reserve for the event final and came in twelfth on the uneven bars. She qualified for the all-around final and finished nineteenth with a total score of 56.299. She appeared at the Joaqun Blume Memorial and took the gold medal in the all-around after the Olympics.

Derwael competed at the France Top 12 Championships as a guest of Dunkerque Gym and finished fifth. She came in sixth in the all-around and tied for the gold medal on the uneven bars with Alison Lepin. She finished twelfth in the all-around at the City of Jesolo Trophy. In the all-around final at the European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, she came in seventh place. She became the first Belgian female gymnast to win a gold medal at the European Championships later this year. She earned the bronze medal with the Belgian team and on the balance beam afterwards at the Flanders International Team Challenge.

At the Paris Challenge Cup, Derwael took home the gold medal on the uneven bars. She came third on the uneven bars behind defending World champion Fan Yilin of China and first-year senior Elena Eremina of Russia in the World Championships. This made her the first Belgian female gymnast to compete at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She also placed eighth in the all-around final. "I'm really happy with the medal" after winning the bronze medal on uneven bars. I always dreamed of winning a world championships medal, but now that I'm here it's all so surreal." In addition, Derwael and Georgia-Mae Fenton of Great Britain both competed in a difficult original art (Stalder to Tkatchev with 1/2 turn), which is now known as the Derwael-Fenton in the Code of Points. At the end of the year, she received the Vlaamse Reus Award, a distinction given to sports journalists to the best Flemish sportsperson of the year.

Derwael won the gold medal with the Belgian team and in the all-around at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in Stuttgart and finished the all-around. Melanie de Jesus dos Santos and Marine Boyer won the gold medal on the uneven bars and bronze medal on the balance beam, just one week later at the Doha World Cup. She earned the gold medal in the Belgian Championships all-around in March. She was a member of the Belgian team who came in fourth at the Heerenveen Friendly Championships.

Derwael qualified in second place in the uneven bars final behind 2013 European runner-up Jonna Adlerteg of Sweden and qualified in first in the balance beam final at the European Championships. In addition, the Belgium team qualified in third place to the team final, but they were unable to ensure injuries to any team members. Angelina Melnikova, the event champion and European bars champion, successfully defended her European crown on uneven bars by placing ahead of Adlerteg and Russian national bars champion Angelina Melnikova. Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands, the reigning Olympic champion, earned the silver medal on the balance beam. She earned the gold medal with the Belgian team and all-around at the Varsenare Friendly in the Varsenare Friendly.

Derwael, a Belgian student, placed eleventh in the qualification round, and qualified for the all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam finals at the 2018 World Championships. With a total score of 55.699, she finished fourth in the all-around final. She finished 15.200, beating American Simone Biles in the final by a half a point, while still achieving both the highest difficulty and execution scores in the tournament. She became the first Belgian woman to win a gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships for the first time ever. She also placed fourth in the balance beam event finals. She competed at the Cottbus World Cup and captured the gold medal on the uneven bars after the World Championships. She was named Belgian Sportswoman of the Year and the Flemish Sportsjewel award for the second year in a row, as well as the Belgian National Sports Merit Award and the Flemish Sportsjewel award.

Derwael won the gold medal on the uneven bars and the silver medal on the balance beam at the Doha World Cup in March. Derwael announced in April that she would not participate in the European Championships in order to help Belgium train a squad to the 2020 Olympic Games in the World Championships.

Derwael earned the gold medal with the Belgian team in the uneven bars and the silver medal in the all-around competition in June. In Minsk, she would compete in the European Games. She only competed on the balance beam and uneven bars during qualifying, and she qualified for both event finals in first and second, respectively. She failed on her eponymous skills in the fourth round of the uneven bars final and finished fourth. She qualified in the balance beam final just over a year ago and captured the gold medal. She earned gold medals on uneven bars and the balance beam at the Worms Friendly, and she helped the Belgian team finish second, behind Germany.

Derwael competed at the World Championships in Stuttgart in October. She helped Belgium finish in tenth place during qualifying; although they didn't qualify for the team final, they did qualify as a team for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Derwael was destined for the all-around, uneven bars, and floor exercise finals. She finished fifth place in the all-around final but received the highest uneven bars score of the day. Derwael scored 15.233, earning the gold medal and defending her World title in an uneven bars final. After Maxi Gnauck (1981, 1983), Daniela Silivaş (1995, 1996, 1999, 2001), and Fan Yilin (2015, 2017). She recovered from the floor exercise final later that day, blaming her recent foot injury and trying to stay healthy in the lead-up to the Olympics. For the second year in a row, she was named Belgium's Sportswoman of the Year.

It was revealed in February 2020 that Derwael would compete in the 2020 Tokyo World Cup. However, the Tokyo World Cup was later cancelled in Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Derwael and her partner Siemen Voet were positive for COVID-19 in December 2020, but she was symptomatic.

Derwael returned to action in March 2021 at the Belgian internal test meet, where she received the all-around gold medal and gold medals for all four events. She earned the gold medal on the uneven bars and the balance beam in June at the Osijek Challenge Cup. With a 1/2 twist, she introduced a new element to the uneven bars: a toe-on laid-out Tkatchev (a Nabieva) with a 1/2 twist, and the element was named after her. She came in fourth place in the Flanders International Team Challenge, aided the Belgian team win the silver medal behind France, and won the gold medal on the uneven bars.

Derwael was chosen to represent Belgium in Tokyo's 2020 Summer Olympics with Maellyse Brassart, Jutta Verkest, and Lisa Vaelen in July 2021. Derwael, a Belgian athlete, qualified for their first team final at the Olympic Games; individually, she qualified for the all-around and uneven bars finals. In the team final, Belgium finished eighth. Derwael finished sixth in the all-around final with a score of 55.965. Derwael captured the gold medal in the uneven bars final, Belgium's first Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics and Belgium's first gold medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics. For the third time, she was named Belgiumn Sportswoman of the year.

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Awards

• Belgian Sports Woman of the Year (2018, 2019, 2021)
• Belgian National Sports Merit Award (2018)
• Vlaamse Reus (2017-2018)
• Flemish Sportsjewel (2018)