Nina Derwael

Nina Derwael ( or ; born 26 March 2000) is a Belgian artistic gymnast.

Derwael was born on 26 March 2000 in Sint-Truiden.

Her father, Nico Derwael, is a former professional football player, and her mother, Marijke Lammens, played handball and table tennis.

She began artistic gymnastics when she was two years old despite her gym's policy that children could only begin when they were three.

When she was eleven years old, she moved to Ghent to train at the Belgian national team training centre and enrolled in a boarding school.

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

Derwael competed at the International Gymnix in Montreal and finished fifteenth in the all-around and eighth in the uneven bars event final.

At the Belgian Championships in July, she finished fifth in the all-around.

Next she competed at a friendly meet against Romania and France, and the Belgian junior team placed second behind Romania.

She was selected to compete at the Junior European Championships alongside Axelle Klinckaert, Rune Hermans, Jelle Beullens, and Cindy Vandenhole, and they finished sixth in the team competition.

At the Elite Gym Massilia, she won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Daria Spiridonova and Giorgia Campana, and the Belgian team won the bronze medal behind Italy and Russia.

She also placed fifth in the uneven bars and the floor exercise event finals.

Her final competition on the season was the Top Gym Tournament in Charleroi where she finished fourteenth in the all-around.

In the event finals, she won the silver medal on the uneven bars behind Angelina Melnikova and placed fifth on the floor exercise.

At the Belgian Championships, Derwael won the gold medal in the all-around, on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise and the silver medal on the vault.

She won the gold medal in the all-around and helped the Belgian team finish second behind Germany at the Flanders Team Challenge.

She competed at the European Youth Summer Olympic Festival with Axelle Klinckaert and Julie Meyers, and they won the silver medal in the team competition behind Russia.

Derwael finished fourth in the all-around final.

In the event finals, she won the silver medal on the uneven bars behind Daria Skrypnik, finished fifth on the balance beam, and won the bronze medal on the floor exercise.

Her final junior competition was the Elite Gym Massilia where she finished fifth in the all-around and the floor exercise and won the bronze medal on the balance beam behind Laura Jurca and Enus Mariani.

She represented Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics and at the 2020 Olympics.

Derwael became age-eligible for senior international competition in 2016.

She made her senior debut at the International Gymnix where she won the team gold medal and placed seventh in the all-around.

In the event finals, she won the gold medal on the uneven bar and the silver medal on the balance beam.

In March, she broke her hand while training on the balance beam and missed the Olympic Test Event.

She returned at the European Championships, and the Belgian team finished ninth in the qualification round.

The Belgian national team competed at the Dutch Championships, and Derwael placed sixth in the all-around.

In the event finals, she won the silver medal on the uneven bars behind Laura Waem and finished fifth on the floor exercise.

She represented Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro alongside Senna Deriks, Rune Hermans, Gaëlle Mys, and Laura Waem, and they placed twelfth in the qualification round.

Individually, Derwael finished twelfth on the uneven bars and was the third reserve for the event final.

She qualified for the all-around final and placed nineteenth with a total score of 56.299.

After the Olympics, she competed at the Joaquín Blume Memorial and won the gold medal in the all-around.

Derwael competed as a guest of Dunkerque Gym at the France Top 12 Championships and helped the team finish fifth.

She placed sixth in the all-around and tied with Alison Lepin for the gold medal on the uneven bars.

At the City of Jesolo Trophy, she placed twelfth in the all-around.

She is the 2019 European Games champion on the balance beam, as well as a two-time Belgian national all-around champion (2015, 2018).

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.

At the 2020 Olympics, she led the Belgian gymnastics team to their first-ever team final where they finished eighth.

She qualified for the all-around final where she finished sixth, and she won the gold medal in the uneven bars final, the first Olympic medal of any color for a Belgian female gymnast.

She is the first Belgian gymnast to medal at the World Championships, the first to become a World champion, and the first to become a European champion.