Axelle Klinckaert

Axelle Klinckaert (born 28 May 2000) is a Belgian former artistic gymnast. She is the 2018 European floor exercise bronze medalist. She was selected to represent Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics but had to withdraw due to a knee injury. As a junior gymnast, she won the all-around silver medal and the balance beam and floor exercise gold medals at the 2015 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival.

Klinckaert competed at the 2014 International Gymnix in Montreal and helped the Belgian team finish fourth, and she finished fourth on the floor exercise.^[1] She won the junior all-around title at the 2014 Belgian Championships.^[2] She was selected to compete at the Junior European Championships alongside Nina Derwael, Rune Hermans, Jelle Beullens, and Cindy Vandenhole, and they finished sixth in the team competition.^[3] Individually, she qualified for the all-around final and finished 24th.^[4] She won a gold medal on the floor exercise at the 2014 Elite Gym Massilia.^[5]

Klinckaert competed at the 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival alongside Julie Meyers and Nina Derwael, and they won a silver medal in the team event behind Russia. She also won the silver medal in the individual all-around behind Russia's Daria Skrypnik.^[6] In the event finals, she won the gold medals on both the balance beam and floor exercise.^[7] She won the all-around title at the 2015 Top Gym Tournament, where she also won gold medals on the vault and floor exercise.^[8]

Klinckaert became age-eligible for senior competitions in 2016. She made her senior debut at the International Gymnix and won the all-around silver medal behind Canada's Isabela Onyshko. She won gold medals on the floor exercise and in the team event.^[9] At the Olympic Test Event, she helped Belgium finish third and qualify as a full team for the Olympic Games for the first time since 1948. She was selected for Belgium's 2016 Olympic team.^[10] However, she had to withdraw from the team due to a knee injury and was replaced by Rune Hermans.^[11]

Klinckaert only competed on the uneven bars at the 2017 Belgian Championships and won the gold medal.^[12] She won a gold medal on the floor exercise at the 2018 Doha World Cup in a three-way tie with Kim Su-jong and Elisa Meneghini.^[13] She won the all-around silver medal behind Nina Derwael at the 2018 Belgian Championships.^[14] At the 2018 European Championships, the Belgium team qualified in third place to the team final but withdrew to prevent injuries to any team members.^[15] She won the bronze medal in the floor exercise final behind Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos and Denisa Golgotă.^[16] She advanced into the all-around final at the 2018 World Championships and finished 18th.^[17]

• Axelle Klinckaert at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Axelle Klinckaert at Team Belgium (in Dutch)