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As the world gears up for the Beijing Olympics, Matt Barker gives us the lowdown on Belgium’s sporting hopefuls heading to China this month
For a country with a population of just over 10 million, Belgium has a rich Olympic pedigree. Back in the 1960s and 1970s it was the men who led the way: Roger Moens (silver in the 800m in 1960), Gaston Roelants (gold in the 3000m steeplechase in 1964), Emiel Puttemans (silver in the 10,000m in 1972) and Ivo van Damme (silver in the 800m and 1,500m in 1976) all left their mark on the history of the games. However, over the past decade it has been the women who’ve been the real trailblazers in Belgian athletics, none more so than Kim Gevaert, the 30-year-old sprinter who gave up on a promising career as a classical pianist to concentrate on running.
Gevaert caused something of a storm on the eve of the 2000 Sydney Olympics when she posed naked for a magazine cover (“I look at it as art,” she explained), but it was another photograph, taken six years later, that really captured the spirit of the age. At the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Gevaert won a celebrated gold double, taking both the 100m and 200m titles – Belgium’s first European athletics gold medals for 35 years. At the same tournament, fellow countrywoman Tia Hellebaut claimed another winner’s medal in the high jump. The image of the two golden girls taking a lap of honour wrapped in the Belgian flag became the defining representation of the country’s rebirth as a sporting nation.
Belgian athletics is now in the best of health, with a new generation of competitors exceeding expectations and attracting enthusiastic crowds to live events. The men’s team reached last year’s Spar European Cup, an elite tournament made up of just eight nations, while the Olympics are increasingly seen as a litmus test of Belgium’s standing in the global arena.
It isn’t all down to the Gevaert factor as Willy Pennoit, general director of Belgian Athletics, points out. The opening of a government-backed Top Sports Schools in 2001 for a select band of promising youngsters in the 16 to 18-year-old age group has been a major reason for the revival in Belgium’s track-and-field fortunes. “It used to be very different, in that we didn’t have schools that allow students to study on a morning and then train on an afternoon,” says Pennoit. “But now these schools allow that to be possible, thanks to the government.”
For all that, Pennoit cheerfully admits Gevaert has been a huge influence when it comes to getting Belgians off their sofas and on to the track, with the number of members of Belgian Athletics more than doubling in recent years. “Kim is the leading lady in our sport, and because of her presence a lot more people have started to run,” he says. “Our membership has gone up in two or three years from about 24,000 to more than 50,000.”
Frédéric Xhonneux typifies the new Belgian breed. The country’s record holder in the decathlon, he agrees that government financing has played its part, but also points to a sporty family background. “We’re lucky that athletics now gets much more support from the government than it ever did before,” he says. “There are better facilities, better contracts and the national Olympic committee invests a lot of time and money to prepare a team, not just for Beijing but also looking ahead to 2012 and 2016.
“I started athletics when I was seven and immediately had the spirit to win. My family supported me from the beginning – my parents drove me everywhere across Belgium for competitions and I remember my grandfather was nearly always there to support me. I actually followed my eldest brother, who was already at a local club. And from there, my dream was born – I wanted to be a great decathlon man and be picked for the Olympics! I’ve never stopped thinking it would be possible. Now, my brother and cousin have created an association (decateam.be) to help promote and support the decathlon in our country, so I’m really lucky to get all this support from my family and friends.”
But why the decathlon? “My first coach, Léo, played a huge role in my career and it’s partly because of him that I’m practising decathlon. He told me it was the best event, practised by the gods of the stadium! Then I discovered the sport on the television, watching Dan O’Brien at the Tokyo World Championships in 1991.”
Xhonneux admits athletics will never be as popular as Belgium’s national obsessions, football and cycling – “No, no, cycling is a religion for us Belgians” – but sees the success of Gevaert and Hellebaut as a real source of inspiration and starting point for the next generation of athletes. “They showed us all that it’s not impossible for us to reach the top in world athletics,” he says. “And it’s true that nowadays we have a really good generation coming through. Especially in events like the team relays of 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m, hurdles and the decathlon. Other athletes’ success rubs off on you; it’s always a great motivation to win a place in the team and then to try to be better than the others.”
Xhonneux spent most of the winter recovering from an injury, but announced his return to the international stage earlier this year with a triumphant appearance at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge in Desenzano del Garda, Italy, breaking the Belgian record on his way to winning the decathlon.
So how does he feel ahead of the big one, the Olympics? “I’m feeling really confident,” he says. “It’s a giant motivation, because the Olympics represent so much for an athlete. It’s the Everest of sports. I know I’ll be in good shape for D-day.”
Pour un pays dont la population dépasse à peine les 10 millions d’habitants, la Belgique fait état d’une riche filiation olympique. Dans les années 1960 et 1970, des sportifs comme Roger Moens et Gaston Roelants ont apposé leurs marques sur les Jeux. Durant la dernière décennie, ce sont les femmes belges qui ont marqué le coup dans les disciplines athlétiques, Kim Gevaert plus particulièrement en remportant à la fois le 100m et le 200m aux Championnats Européens d’Athlétisme de Gothenburg, en 2006. Au cours de la même épreuve, Tia Hellebaut obtint également une médaille d’or pour le saut en hauteur.
Aujourd’hui, les athlètes belges sont au sommet de leur forme, avec une nouvelle génération de concurrents dépassant toutes les attentes et attirant un public enthousiaste lors des compétitions. Willy Pennoit, Directeur Général de la Ligue Royale Belge d’Athlétisme, croit fermement que le soutien du gouvernement aux Grandes Ecoles de Sport en 2001 a joué un rôle majeur dans le renouveau des succès de la Belgique dans un grand nombre de disciplines du terrain. Selon lui, Gevaert a également exercé une énorme influence pour sortir les Belges de leur fauteuil jusqu’aux pistes d’entraînement. “Kim est la première dame de notre scène sportive, et grâce à sa position un plus grand nombre de personnes ont commencé à courir,” confie-t-il.
Frédéric Xhonneux, le détenteur belge du record du décathlon, est un pur produit de la nouvelle lignée. “J’ai commencé l’athlétisme à l’âge de sept ans et dès le début j’avais l’esprit tourné vers la victoire,” explique-t-il. “Je voulais exceller dans le décathlon et être sélectionné pour les Jeux Olympiques! Je n’ai jamais cessé de penser que c’était possible.”
Il admet que l’athlétisme ne sera jamais aussi populaire en Belgique que les obsessions nationales, le football et le cyclisme, mais en voyant toutefois le succès de Gevaert et d’Hellebaut comme une réelle source d’inspiration. “Elles nous ont montré qu’atteindre le sommet dans les compétitions athlétiques mondiales n’était pas une mission impossible,” dit-il.
Quel est à l’heure actuelle son sentiment à l’approche des Jeux Olympiques ? “Je me sens vraiment confiant,” confie-t-il. “Et dans ce cas-ci, la motivation est géante, car les Jeux constituent un enjeu de taille pour un athlète. C’est l’Everest du sport.” no, cycling is a religion for us Belgians” – but sees the success of Gevaert and Hellebaut as a real source of inspiration and starting point for the next generation of athletes. “They showed us all that it’s not impossible for us to reach the top in world athletics,” he says. “And it’s true that nowadays we have a really good generation coming through. Especially in events like the team relays of 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m, hurdles and the decathlon. Other athletes’ success rubs off on you; it’s always a great motivation to win a place in the team and then to try to be better than the others.”
Xhonneux spent most of the winter recovering from an injury, but announced his return to the international stage earlier this year with a triumphant appearance at the IAAF Combined Events Challenge in Desenzano del Garda, Italy, breaking the Belgian record on his way to winning the decathlon.
So how does he feel ahead of the big one, the Olympics? “I’m feeling really confident,” he says. “It’s a giant motivation, because the Olympics represent so much for an athlete. It’s the Everest of sports. I know I’ll be in good shape for D-day.”
Voor een land met iets meer dan 10 miljoen inwoners heeft België een rijke Olympische stamboom. In de jaren ’60 en ’70 drukten atleten zoals Roger Moens en Gaston Roelants hun stempel op de Spelen. Het voorbije decennium zwaaiden vooral de vrouwen de scepter in de Belgische atletiek. Zo won Kim Gevaert in 2006 goud op zowel de 100 als de 200 meter op het EK Atletiek in Göteborg. Tijdens hetzelfde tornooi sleepte ook hoogspringster Tia Hellebaut een gouden medaille in de wacht.
De Belgische atletiek verkeert in blakende gezondheid, met een nieuwe generatie atleten die de verwachtingen overtreft en massa’s kijklustigen naar live evenementen lokt. Willy Pennoit, algemeen directeur van de Vlaamse Atletiekliga, is ervan overtuigd dat de opening van overheidsgesteunde topsportscholen in 2001 bijdroeg tot de heropleving van de Belgische atletiek. Maar hij geeft opgewekt toe dat Gevaert veel Belgen van hun luie zetel naar de atletiekpiste heeft geleid. “Kim is de leading lady in onze sport, en dankzij haar zijn veel meer mensen beginnen lopen”, vertelt hij.
Frédéric Xhonneux, de Belgische recordhouder in de tienkamp, staat symbool voor die nieuwe lichting atleten. “Ik begon op mijn zevende met atletiek en streefde meteen naar de zege”, vertelt hij. “Ik wilde een groot tienkamper worden en droomde van de Olympische Spelen. Ik ben er steeds in blijven geloven.”
Hij geeft toe dat atletiek nooit zo populair zal worden als de nationale obsessies van België, voetbal en wielrennen. Maar hij ziet het succes van Gevaert en Hellebaut als een bron van inspiratie. “Zij toonden ons dat de top van de wereldatletiek niet onbereikbaar is voor ons”, legt hij uit.
Hoe kijkt hij nu aan tegen de Olympische Spelen? “Ik barst van vertrouwen”, zegt hij. “Het is een reusachtige motivatie, want de Olympische Spelen zijn alles voor een atleet. Het is de Mount Everest van de sportwereld.”
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