Lisa Vaelen (born 10 August 2004) is a Belgian

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

who represented

Belgium at the 2020 Summer Olympics Belgium competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's official debut in ...

Junior career

2016-2017

At the 2016 Belgian Championships, Vaelen swept the gold medals on every event and in the all-around in the Junior A-12 Division. She then made her international debut at the 2016 Gymnova Cup and won the gold medal in the all-around in the Espoir division. At the 2017

WOGA Classic 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 ...

, Vaelen finished sixth in the all-around and placed eighth with the Belgian team. She then competed at the Belgian Championships and won the bronze medal in the all-around. Then at the 2017 Gymnova Cup, she won the silver medal in the all-around and on

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

and

balance beam The balance beam is a rectangular artistic gymnastics apparatus and an event performed using the apparatus. Both the apparatus and the event are sometimes simply referred to as "beam". The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring i ...

, and she won the bronze medal on the

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...

. Her final meet of the 2017 season was the Top Gym Tournament where she placed eighth in the all-around and on vault, and she finished fifteenth on the

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

2018

Vaelen returned to the WOGA Classic, this time placing twelfth in the all-around. She then competed at the International GymSport and won the gold medal in the all-around. Then at the Belgian Championships, she won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Fien Enghels and Margaux Daveloose. She competed as a guest at the Dutch Championships and won the gold medal in the all-around. She then competed at the Heerenveen Friendly where the Belgian team finished second behind the Netherlands, and Vaelen placed fifth in the all-around. In August, she withdrew from the Junior European Championships due to a leg injury. She returned to competition in November at the Gymnova Cup and won the gold medal in the all-around. Her final meet of the season was the Top Gym Tournament where she won the gold medal in the all-around.

2019

Vaelen once again began her season at the WOGA Classic, and she finished sixth in the all-around. Her next competition was the

City of Jesolo Trophy The City of Jesolo Trophy is an annual women's gymnastics competition held in Jesolo, Italy. There are competitions for the senior division and junior division. The United States won the senior team competition every year from 2010 to 2017.

where the Belgian team won the bronze medal behind Russia and the United States, and she finished nineteenth in the all-around. She then won the gold medal in the all-around at the International GymSport. At the Belgian Championships, she won the bronze medal in the all-around. She then competed at the FIT Challenge and helped Belgium win the team gold medal. Vaelen competed at the inaugural 2019 Junior World Championships alongside Stacy Bertrandt and

Noémie Louon Noémie (or Noemie) is a female name of French origin. Retrieved 21 June 2018 Uncommon variant spellings in French include Noémi and Noëmie (same pronunciation). It is the French variation of the biblical Hebrew name Naomi (), which means "good, ...

, and they finished fifth in the team competition.

Senior career

2020-2021

Vaelen made her senior debut at the

2020 L'International Gymnix The 2020 International Gymnix competition was the 29th edition of the International Gymnix competition. It was held in Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

where she helped the Belgian team win the silver medal behind the United States. However, this was her only competition of the season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. At the 2021 Osijek Challenge Cup, Vaelen won the bronze medal on the

behind

Nina Derwael Nina Derwael ( or ; born 26 March 2000) is a Belgians, Belgian artistic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, 2018, 2019 World ...

and Zsofia Kovacs. She then competed at the FIT Challenge and helped Belgium win the team silver medal behind France. She was selected to represent

alongside Nina Derwael, Maellyse Brassart, and

Jutta Verkest Jutta Verkest (born 11 October 2005) is a Belgian artistic gymnast. She represented Belgium at the 2020 Summer Olympics and was the youngest gymnast at the 2020 Olympic Games. Personal life Jutta Verkest was born on 11 October 2005, in Mechel ...

. She competed on the vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise in the team final where the team finished eighth.

2022

In August, Vaelen competed at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, where she contributed to Belgium's fifth place finish in the team final. Individually, she placed fifth in the all-around, and finished fourth in the vault final behind Zsófia Kovács,

Asia D'Amato Asia D'Amato () (born 7 February 2003) is an Italian artistic gymnast. She represented Italy at the 2020 Olympic Games. She was a member of the teams that won bronze at the 2019 World Championships and gold at the 2022 European Championships. ...

and

Aline Friess Aline Friess (born 5 July 2003) is a French artistic gymnast. She competed with the French teams at the 2019 World Championships and the 2020 Summer Olympics. Early life Friess was born on 5 July 2003 in Obernai. She began gymnastics in 2009 ...

with a total score of 13.583.

Competitive history

Reference

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaelen, Lisa 2004 births Living people Belgian female artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of Belgium Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics People from Bonheiden Sportspeople from Antwerp Province 21st-century Belgian women