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December 2009
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Countdown to Munich - Focus on Belgium who compete in their first ever SPAR European Cup |
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24.05.2007 |
 Belgian athletics boasts a long, rich history of world-class
athletes.Gaston Reiff took the gold medal in the 1948 London Olympics
while Roger Moens snatched silver behind the great Peter Snell at the 1960
Games in Rome.
Gaston Roelants was a European and 1964 Olympic champion in
the steeplechase while in the Seventies Emiel Puttemans was a multiple world
record-breaker in the distance and Ivo van Damme, who was tragically killed in
a car crash aged just 22, won double middle-distance silver at the 1976 Montreal
Olympics.
Yet despite Belgium's
athletics heritage the country makes history next month when their men line up as
one of the eight elite European nations for the very first time in the SPAR European
Cup.
Promotion was clinched last year in Prague
and the nation of just 10 million residents will line up alongside some of the
powerhouses of the athletics powerhouses of the continent such as Germany, Russia,
France and Great Britain in Munich.
Belgian women, too, are also making quite splash with Kim
Gevaert, right, taking the sprint double and Tia Hellebaut, below, the high jump at last
summer's European Championships in Gothenburg.
But what has caused the current renaissance for a sport
which had fallen into decline during the Eighties and Nineties in Belgium?
General Director of Belgian Athletics, Willy Pennoit,
believes a number of factors have contributed to the revival and points to the
development of two Top Sports Schools for around 40 elite athletes aged 16-18
six years ago as one key element.
"It was very different in Belgium in that we did not have
schools which allow student to study on a morning and then train on an
afternoon," he said. "But now these schools allow that to be possible thanks to
the government."
Since 2004 Belgium
has also set up four professional sprints and one professional high jump coach led
by Gevaert's coach Rudi Diels and Hellebaut's coach Wim Vanderven.
 The project, set up with the help of the government and
national Olympic committee, is starting to pay dividends and, significantly,
the Belgians are quietly starting to make their mark in the sprints. Besides
Gevaert on the men's side Kristof Beyens finished fourth in the 200m final at
the European Championships in Gothenburg, Cedric van Brantegham is a 45.02 400m
athlete and Belgium's
men won both relays en route to clinching promotion for the SPAR European Cup last year.
"We have changed out point of view (in recent times) in that
we have focused more on the sprints," explained Pennoit. "Of course we do not
forget the long-distance but we have too big problems in long distance. The
Africans can run faster than the Europeans and secondly in the rich countries
it is hard to train for long distance. This is not only out problem but the
same for other countries in Europe. "
But Pennoit argues there is a third indisputable factor for
the growing success of Belgian athletics - Kim Gevaert.
"Kim is the leading lady in the sport and because of her
presence a lot more people have started to run," he explained. "Our membership
has gone up in two or three years from about 24,000 to more than 50,000."
However, despite the athletics rebirth in Belgium even
Pennoit was taken aback by the men's promotion to the SPAR European Cup last season.
"No, it was a big surprise," he added. "We did not expect it.
We hope to stay in the Super League but it will be very, very difficult."
Pennoit points to the sprints and the relays as being
crucial should the Belgian men retain their Super League status with the likes
of 1:44 800m athlete Joeri Jansen and long jumper Michael Velter also playing
an important role.
However, despite the star quality of Gevaert and Hellebaut
he does not predict the woman matching the men and clinching promotion from the Second League into the SPAR European Cup.
"The team is not as balanced as the men," he added. "We have
a big gap behind the likes of Tia and Kim."
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