Ivo Van Damme

Personal information

Born

21 February 1954
Dendermonde, Belgium^[1]

Died

29 December 1976 (aged 22)
Orange, Vaucluse, France

Height

1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)

Weight

76 kg (168 lb)

Sport

Athletics

Event(s)

800 m, 1500 m

Achievements and titles

Personal best(s)

800 m – 1:43.86 (1976)
1500 m – 3:36.26 (1976)

Medal record

Olympic Games
Representing Belgium
	1976 Montreal	800 m
	1976 Montreal	1,500 m
European Athletics Indoor Championships
	1976 Munich	800 m
	1975 Katowice	800 m

Ivo Van Damme (21 February 1954 – 29 December 1976) was a Belgian middle-distance runner.

Van Damme played football until he was 16, but then switched to athletics. His breakthrough came in 1973, when he placed fourth in the 800 m at the European Junior Championships.^[2]

He suffered from mononucleosis the following season, but returned strong beating Roger Moens's 1955 national 800 m record. In 1976, he won the European indoor title over this distance, and was one of the favourites for a medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He eventually ended up second in both the 800 and 1500 m, finishing behind Alberto Juantorena and John Walker, respectively.^[3]

These were his last successes, as Van Damme was killed in a car accident later that year while travelling home from Marseille in southern France.^[3] He was to marry Rita Thijs in 1977.^[1] Since 1977, a memorial competition has been held in Brussels to remember him, the Memorial van Damme. It has become one of the major track and field meetings of the season.

After his death, Belgian athletics entered a long period without athletes with international fame. Together with the athletics event named after him, this turned Van Damme into a national icon and a reminder of a glorious past and missed opportunity. It was not until the 2000s with the arrival of Kim Gevaert and Tia Hellebaut that Belgian athletics got a boost again.

References

1 2 "À 22 ans, Ivo est entré dans l'Olympe". Le Soir. 30 August 2006.
↑ Biografie Ivo Van Damme. sport.be
1 2 Ivo Van Damme. sports-reference.com

External links

Official Website Memorial van Damme

Post-war Belgian Olympic medalists in men's athletics

Gold 1948: Gaston Reiff (5000 m) 1964: Gaston Roelants (3000 m steeplechase) Silver 1960: Roger Moens (800 m) 1972: Karel Lismont (marathon) 1972: Emiel Puttemans (10,000 m) 1976: Ivo Van Damme (800 m and 1500 m) Bronze 1948: Étienne Gailly (marathon) 1976: Karel Lismont (marathon)

Belgian Sportsperson of the Year

Men	1967 Ferdinand Bracke 1968 Serge Reding 1969–1974 Eddy Merckx 1975 Bruno Brokken 1976 Ivo Van Damme 1977 Michel Pollentier 1978 Raymond Ceulemans 1979–1980 Robert Van de Walle 1981 Freddy Maertens 1982 Jacky Ickx 1983 Eddy Annys 1984 Claude Criquielion 1985 Gaston Rahier & Vincent Rousseau 1986 William Van Dijck 1987 Georges Jobé 1988 Eric Geboers 1989 Thierry Boutsen 1990 Rudy Dhaenens 1991 Jean-Michel Saive 1992 Georges Jobé 1993 Vincent Rousseau 1994 Jean-Michel Saive 1995–1996 Fred Deburghgraeve 1997 Luc Van Lierde 1998 Fred Deburghgraeve 1999 Luc Van Lierde 2000 Joël Smets 2001–2004 Stefan Everts 2005 Tom Boonen 2006 Stefan Everts 2007 Tom Boonen 2008 Sven Nys 2009–2011 Philippe Gilbert 2012 Tom Boonen 2013 Frederik Van Lierde 2014 Thibaut Courtois 2015 Kevin De Bruyne

Women	1975 Carine Verbauwen 1976–1977 Anne-Marie Pira 1978–1979 Carine Verbauwen 1980 Ingrid Berghmans 1981 Annie Lambrechts 1982–1986 Ingrid Berghmans 1987 Ingrid Lempereur 1988–1989 Ingrid Berghmans 1990–1991 Sabine Appelmans 1992 Annelies Bredael 1993 Gella Vandecaveye 1994–1995 Brigitte Becue 1996 Ulla Werbrouck 1997 Gella Vandecaveye 1998 Dominique Monami 1999–2002 Kim Clijsters 2003–2004 Justine Henin-Hardenne 2005 Kim Clijsters 2006–2007 Justine Henin-Hardenne 2008 Tia Hellebaut 2009–2011 Kim Clijsters 2012 Evi Van Acker 2013 Kirsten Flipkens 2014 Nafissatou Thiam 2015 Delfine Persoon

Team	1997 Noliko Maaseik 1998 Belgian Motorcross team 1999 Davis Cup team 2000 Anderlecht 2001 Fed Cup team 2002 La Villette 2003 Belgian Motorcross team 2004 Women's 4×100 metres relay 2005 Under-21 football team 2006 Fed Cup team 2007–2008 Women's 4×100 metres relay 2009–2011 Men's 4×400 metres relay 2012 Field hockey team 2013–2014 Football team 2015 Davis Cup team

Talent	1998 Kim Clijsters 1999 Bart Wellens 2000 Bart Aernouts 2001 Jurgen Van den Broeck 2002 Thomas Buffel 2003 Kirsten Flipkens 2004 Aagje Vanwalleghem 2005 Niels Albert 2006 Yoris Grandjean 2007 Dominique Cornu 2008 Elise Matthysen 2009 Romelu Lukaku 2010 Luca Brecel 2011 Thomas van der Plaetsen 2012 Kimmer Coppejans 2013 Nafissatou Thiam 2014 Divock Origi 2015 Tiesj Benoot

Paralympic	2010 Sven Decaesstecker 2011 Wim Decleir 2012 Marieke Vervoort 2013 Joachim Gérard 2014 Michèle George 2015 Marieke Vervoort

Coach	2011–2012 Jacques Borlée 2013–2014 Marc Wilmots 2015 Hein Vanhaezebrouck

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.