Sanne Wevers

Early life and training

Wevers was born on 17 September 1991, in Leeuwarden. She is six minutes older than her fraternal twin, Lieke. They are both members of the Dutch national gymnastics team and are coached by their father, Vincent.

In 1992, Wevers and her family moved to Oldenzaal. When she was 12, she and her sister started training with their father at a local club in Dronrijp. The family later moved to Twente, and the twins started training at Topturnen Oost-Nederland (English translation: Top Gymnastics Eastern Netherlands). Her parents helped turn it into a high-level sports facility called BosanTON.

In 2013, Vincent Wevers had an argument with the management of the facility and was fired. Ultimately, the twins moved with their father to Heerenveen to train, while their mother stayed in Oldenzaal.

2007–2008

Wevers made her international debut in 2007 at the Ghent World Cup, where she placed seventh on uneven bars. She also placed eighth on balance beam at the Glasgow Grand Prix. She competed on bars, beam, and floor at the 2007 European Championships, but did not qualify for any event finals.

Wevers began the 2008 Olympic season at the European Championships. She scored 14.975 on beam, contributing to the Netherlands' eighth-place finish in the team finals. She finished eighth on beam at the Cottbus World Cup, and won silver on beam at the Maribor World Cup. At the World Cup in Tianjin, she finished seventh on balance beam.

At the Dutch national championships, Wevers finished second in the all-around, fifth on bars, and second on beam and floor. The Netherlands could only send one athlete to the 2008 Summer Olympics, and Suzanne Harmes was chosen instead of Wevers.

At the Glasgow Grand Prix, Wevers placed seventh on floor and won gold on both bars and beam. She finished 2008 by placing sixth on bars and fourth on beam at the Stuttgart DTB Cup.

2009–2012

Wevers placed fourth on beam at the 2009 Moscow World Stars, but sustained an elbow injury and did not compete for the rest of the year. In 2010, she competed at the 2010 European Championships and contributed a 13.025 on beam toward the Netherlands' seventh-place finish. She was selected to compete at the 2010 World Championships, where the Netherlands finished ninth in qualifications, one spot away from the team final. On beam at the World Championships, Wevers successfully performed a double turn with leg at horizontal, and the skill was named after her.

She had shoulder surgery soon after the World Championships, and later sustained a foot injury that kept her out of contention for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Wevers returned to competition at the Ostrava World Cup in 2012, where she won silver on beam.

2013–2015

In 2013, Wevers won gold on beam at the Osijek World Cup and was named to the Dutch team for the 2013 World Championships. At Worlds, she fell on balance beam in qualifications and did not advance to the final.

In June 2014, she competed at the Dutch Nationals, winning gold on beam and silver on bars, and placing ninth in the all-around. She then competed at the 2014 European Championships, where the Dutch team finished ninth. At the 2014 World Championships, the Netherlands finished tenth, qualifying a full team to the 2015 World Championships.

In 2015, Wevers competed at the Ljubljana World Cup in April, where a fall on balance beam landed her in fourth place. At the European Championships, she qualified to the uneven bars and balance beam finals. She won a bronze on bars, but fell on one of her spins on beam and finished her routine well over her allotted 90 seconds. She finished eighth.

At the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Wevers helped the Netherlands finish eighth in the team competition. Individually, she won the silver medal on balance beam. Wevers calculated her own difficulty score in a notebook immediately after finishing her routine, and when it was inconsistent with the judges' score her coach filed an inquiry on her behalf, which was accepted. This practice has made Sanne distinctive from other gymnasts, as she typically calculates her difficulty score in a notebook after finishing her routine.

2016

In 2016, Wevers upgraded the difficulty score of her beam routine by seven-tenths and won gold at the Olympic Test Event. She then became the Dutch national champion on beam with a score of 15.650.

In July, Wevers was named in the Dutch team for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and her sister Lieke also made the team. In qualifications on 7 August, Wevers scored 14.408 on uneven bars and 15.066 on balance beam. On 15 August, she won the gold medal in the balance beam final with a score of 15.466, outscoring Americans Laurie Hernandez and Simone Biles, who won silver and bronze. This was the first time a Dutch woman won an individual medal in artistic gymnastics, the second time a Dutch woman won a medal in artistic gymnastics after the Dutch team won gold at their home Olympics in 1928, and the second time a Dutch gymnast won an individual medal, following Epke Zonderland's win on horizontal bar at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Wevers was selected to be the country's flag bearer at the closing ceremonies.

"Dutchwoman Sanne Wevers won gold with [a] routine that stood out with a sharp contrast in styles to the others ... [She] performed a routine that was short on acrobatic skills, but big on pirouettes, a skill that Wevers is known for. She pulled off a triple turn without a hint of hesitation early in the routine and later added a turn that reversed fields and headed back in the other direction."

2017

After the Olympics, Wevers returned to competition in February 2017 at the Melbourne World Cup. She finished second on balance beam behind Chinese gymnast Liu Tingting. She was chosen to represent the Netherlands at the European Championships in Cluj alongside Olympian Eythora Thorsdottir and teammates Tisha Volleman and Kristen Polderman. Wevers qualified for the balance beam final and finished in fifth place.