Lisa Evelien Top (born 13 August 1996) is a Dutch artistic gymnast. A Senior National Team member since 2012, she participated in both the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

as well as the

2015 European Games The 2015 European Games, also known as Baku 2015 or Baku 2015 European Games ( az, Bakı 2015 Avropa Oyunları), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic ...

Early life

Top was born on 13 August 1996 in

Gouda Gouda may refer to: * Gouda, South Holland, a city in the Netherlands ** Gouda (pottery), style of pottery manufactured in Gouda ** Gouda cheese, type of cheese originally made in and around Gouda ** Gouda railway station * Gouda, Western Cape, a s ...

, to Josephine Top. She has an elder brother, Rowan. Top first got into gymnastics at the age of four; her friend took her to a gymnastics class and the trainers insisted that Lisa and her parents enroll her in full-time gymnastics courses. Consequently, she began training at the DOS

Heerhugowaard Heerhugowaard (; West Frisian Dutch: ''Heerhugoweard'', ''Heregeweard'' or ''De Weard'') is a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West Friesland. Heerhugowaard was previously a municipality, which merged w ...

gymnastics club. In 2009, at the age of 12, she left her family in Heerhugowaard to train at the prestigious Turncentrum Sportstad Heerenveen in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

. Physically, it would have been impossible for Top to commute an hour and a half each day to train at the club, so she stayed with a

host family Homestay (also home stay and home-stay) is a form of hospitality and lodging whereby visitors share a residence with a local of the area (host) to which they are traveling. The length of stay can vary from one night to over a year and can be pr ...

Junior International Elite career

2009

Despite a gym change and leaving home, she finished third in the all-around at the 2009 Dutch National Championships.

2010

Top was named to the Netherlands delegation for the

2010 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 28th European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships held from 28 April to 2 May 2010 in Birmingham. Timetable Medal Winners Detail results Seniors Team ‡ Romania's Ana Porgras injured herself on her dismount on beam. ...

, held in

Birmingham, England Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. In the qualification competition, she advanced to the all-around final (15th) and the floor exercise final (8th). In her finals, Top turned in a 7th-place finish in the all-around final. Additionally, she also placed 7th in the floor final. Later, in June 2010, she finished second in the all-around at the 2010 Dutch National Championships. Although Top was the highest placed Dutch female junior at the 2010 Europeans competition, Tess Moonen was awarded the Netherlands qualification spot in women's gymnastics for the

2010 Youth Olympics The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics ( ta, 2010 கோடைக்கால இளையோர் ஒலிம்பிக் விளையாட்டுக்கள் ms, Sukan Olimpik Belia Musim Panas 2010), officially known as the I Summer ...

2011

In May 2011, Top finished second at the 2011 Pre-Olympic Youth Cup in

Bergisch Gladbach Bergisch Gladbach () is a city in the Cologne/Bonn Region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis (district). Geography Bergisch Gladbach is located east of the river Rhine, approx. 10 kilometers east of ...

, Germany. A month later, Top was crowned the 2011 Dutch National Junior champion in the all-around and on all four events. As a result of her performances at the 2011 Dutch Nationals, Top was named to the Dutch delegation for the

2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival The 2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival was held in Trabzon, Turkey, between 23 and 29 July 2011. Sports There were nine sports at the 2011 Festival, two branches, table tennis and water polo, less than compared with the 2007 Youth Olym ...

in the

Trabzon, Turkey Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...

during July 2011. In the qualification round, she advanced to the all-around final. Additionally, Lisa was a reserve for both the vault and uneven bars finals. Eventually, Top placed tenth in the all-around final. In November, she participated in the Massilia Cup in

Marseille, France Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern France ...

and finished eighteenth in the all-around.

Senior International Elite career

2012

Top's inaugural Senior National Team assignment was the 2012 Olympic Gymnastics Test Event in London. Although the Dutch team did not advance to the Olympics as a full team, Top finished twenty-sixth in the all-around; the highest position of the Dutch team. Later in the year, in May, Top made the

2012 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 29th European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held from 9 May to 13 May 2012 in Brussels. Timetable Medalists Detail results Seniors Team Vault Oldest and youngest competitors Uneven Bars Oldest and ...

team. She finished fifteenth in the all-around during the team competition. In June 2012, she participated in the

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

World Cup competition and was the bronze medallist on floor. Later, she participated in the

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

World Cup and finished second in the floor exercise. At the 2012 Dutch Nationals, she finished second in the all-around. As the Dutch Gymnastics Federation had only qualified one women's artistic gymnastics representative to the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, the spot was filled by National all-around champion,

Céline van Gerner Céline Henriette Bianca van Gerner (born 1 December 1994) is a retired Dutch elite artistic gymnast, two-time Olympian, and bronze medalist at the 2018 European Championships Early life Van Gerner was born in Zwolle, Netherlands, but grew up ...

. Her final competition of the year was the

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

World Cup in November 2012. At this event, she won a silver medal in the uneven bars.

2013

In December 2012, Top reported on her personal website that she had sustained an elbow injury during a tumbling pass in training. She remained out of competition for most of the start of the 2013 elite season, but first announced that she was back in training in June 2013; when she took a trip with the Netherlands team to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

training at

WOGA The World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) is a two-facility gymnastics club located in Frisco and Plano. The head coaches at WOGA are former USA Gymnastics women's national team coordinator Valeri Liukin, who was a Soviet medalist at the 1 ...

. Top returned to competitive gymnastics in October 2013, at the Wase Gym Cup. She won the all-around at the competition. Her final competition was the International of

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

in December 2013. She finished second in the all-around behind

Tatiana Nabieva Tatiana Olegovna Nabieva (russian: Татьяна Олеговна Набиева; born November 21, 1994, in Pushkin) is a Russian artistic gymnast who has won four World Championship medals. She is known for the F-rated uneven bars skill named ...

2014

Top was named to the Dutch team for the

2014 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 30th European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held from 12 to 18 May 2014 at the Arena Armeec in Sofia, Bulgaria. Schedule The competition schedule is as follows (all times are local, EEST, UTC+03:00). ;Wednesday, 14 May 2014 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Top, Lisa 1996 births Living people Dutch female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Heerenveen Gymnasts at the 2015 European Games European Games medalists in gymnastics European Games bronze medalists for the Netherlands 21st-century Dutch women