Eddy Hellebuyck

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Eddy Hellebuyck 2012

Eddy Hellebuyck (born January 22, 1961 in Deinze ) is a former American marathon runner of Belgian origin.

The son of boxer Daniel Hellebuyck grew up with his mother and grandparents after his parents divorced a year after he was born. Abused by his grandfather and bullied by his classmates, he switched from soccer to running at school, which he found more attractive as an individual sport. His talent earned him a job as a sports soldier in the Belgian army after graduating from school .

In 1982 he married his first wife Nicole and spontaneously took part in a marathon, which he finished in 2:17 hours. In 1985 he improved himself to 2:13:31 h in the Frankfurt Marathon , and in the following year he was eighth in the Berlin Marathon and tenth in the New York City Marathon . In 1989 he was second in the Tokyo International Men's Marathon and the CPC Loop Den Haag and won the Paderborn Easter run over 10 km and the Cleveland Marathon . In 1990 he won the Lake Biwa Marathon , was world military marathon champion and finished 22nd at the European Athletics Championships in Split , and in 1991 he was third in the Los Angeles Marathon .

After failing to qualify for the 1992 Olympics, he accepted an offer that fall to act as a pacemaker at the Chicago Marathon . Hellebuyck ran through and came third. After the race, he met aspiring athlete manager Shawn Kavanaugh. Not only did he become one of her first clients, but the two were soon a couple and moved to Albuquerque , where they married in January 1995 (his first marriage, which had resulted in two children, had been divorced in 1992). In the following years, the couple bought some buildings and rented the rooms to athletes who trained in the high altitude of New Mexico.

With Hellebuyck's sporting career things went up again. In 1993 he was Belgian champion in the half marathon , second in Chicago and tenth in the Fukuoka marathon , in 1994 he won the Antwerp marathon and the Columbus marathon , and in 1995 he won the half marathon of the Las Vegas marathon and was tenth in Tokyo and fifth in Chicago.

With a seventh place in the London Marathon in 1996, he qualified for the Olympic Games in Atlanta , where he came in 67th. In Chicago he finished ninth that year. In the following two years he mainly competed in races in tropical countries.

In 1999 he received US citizenship. As the runner-up in the US championship held as part of the Pittsburgh Marathon , he was nominated for the World Championships in Seville , where he came in 26th. The following year he was fifth in the US eliminator for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and in 2001 he won the Masters classification in 2:16:48 in the Austin Marathon, finishing eighth overall, and came in 38th at the Edmonton World Championships .

In 2003, he was the best American in the Boston Marathon in tenth , and won the Twin Cities Marathon in 2:12:46. Not only was it his best time since 1996, but it was also a US Masters record.

Shortly after the US elimination match for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , in which he finished eighth as the oldest participant, it became known that Hellebuyck had tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO) during an unannounced training check prior to the event . Hellebuyck protested his innocence and sued unsuccessfully against the two-year ban with which he was placed before the International Court of Sport (CAS).

In 2010, Hellebuyck told journalist John Brant that he had been doping with EPO since the summer of 2001 . His supplier and supervisor was the Russian doctor and marathon runner Leonid Schwezow (Schwezow denies this).

Hellebuyck has lived in Oro Valley near Tucson with his wife and son since 2005 , where he is a coach at Ironwood Ridge High School .

Personal bests

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personal data
SURNAME Hellebuyck, Eddy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American marathon runner of Belgian origin
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Deinze