Born on September 17, 1991, Sanne was a senior as early as 2007. She competed at home Europeans in Amsterdam where in the preliminary round she placed 21st on bars and beam. A year later she attended the 2008 Europeans and contributed solely on her best event, beam, where she gave her team their highest score a 14.975. The Netherlands finished 8th in the team competition.
As a young talent she was sent to World Cups and since then her intricate beam work made heads turn. But going into Beijing coaches were likely considering a more experienced gymnast for the sole spot The Netherlands had and in the end, it went to Suzanne Harmes.
For the 2009-2012 quadrenium, Sanne spent most of the time injured. In 2009 it was an elbow injury and in 2011 she hurt her foot shortly before the World Championships and she also missed the 2012 Test Event.
But 2010 was a good year for her she made the European and World Team. The World Championships were held at home in Rotterdam and Sanne placed 23rd on beam, but the best of it was that she got the double L-turn named after her.
In 2013 she attended the World Championships but fell on her mount and didn’t make the final. The next year she also made the World team and competed solely on beam and while her routine was excellent it was not enough to get her into the final, she finished 20th.
By then Sanne was already 23 years old, had been a senior for seven years and while she had done a great job she did not own any individual medals at Europeans and had not made a World Championship final and unless The Netherlands could qualify a full team to the Olympics, it would be hard for her to get The Netherlands sole spot.
But everything changed in 2015, Sanne qualified to a European final but it was not beam it was bars her other specialty event and what a magnificent surprise she won bronze in the apparatus. Then at the World Championships The Netherlands finished 8th in the preliminary round meaning they would send a full team to the Olympics in Rio, Sanne would get the Olympic experience, another dream come true but the best was still to come.
At the World Championships she had qualified fifth into the beam final and in the actual final she was second behind Simone Biles. At 24 she was in peak shape and dreams were coming true at every competition.
So, as a silver medallist from the previous World Championships, she was expected in the Olympic final with a good chance of a medal but not gold since that medal had already been assigned to Simone Biles before the competition even started.
But what a surprise Simone Biles grabbed the beam on her front tuck and next up was Sanne Wevers with the opportunity of a lifetime and she survived immense pressure to present the most difficult routine of all competitors. Judges took a very long time calculating her score but in the end, they crowned 25-year-old Sanne Wevers Olympic Beam Champion. She is the first individual Olympic Champion of her country and one of the oldest in Olympic history.
When we watched Sanne compete at World Cups in 2007 and 2008 we never imagined that one day she would stand in the highest part of the Olympic podium. It would be a long road for Sanne but she would make it in company of her father Vicent Wevers (her coach) and her sister Lieke Wevers who nervously waited in the stands while her sister’s score was calculated. And after Sanne became the golden beam queen of Rio, Lieke declared herself the proudest twin sister in the whole world.
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