Ivo Van Damme

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Ivo Van Damme (born February 21, 1954 in Brussels , † December 29, 1976 in Orange (Vaucluse) ) was a Belgian middle-distance runner .

Van Damme played football at Racing White until he was 16 , but then switched to athletics . His breakthrough came in 1973 when he finished fourth in the 800 m at the European Junior Championships .

In 1974 Van Damme contracted Pfeiffer glandular fever . After recovering from illness, he won silver over 800 m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Katowice .

In 1976 he won the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Munich over 800 m and traveled as one of the favorites to the Olympic Games in Montreal . There he won two silver medals over 800 m and 1500 m . In the 800m race he lost to Cuban Alberto Juantorena in 1: 43.86 minutes . This time is still the current Belgian record for this route. Over 1500 m he was defeated by the New Zealander John Walker .

These two medals were his last great successes. Five months after the Olympic Games, Van Damme had a fatal accident in his car on the way back from a training camp in the south of France.

A year later, an athletics meeting was held for the first time in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, renamed the King Baudouin Stadium since 1995 , in memory of Van Damme. The Van Damme Memorial , which has been held annually since then, has developed into one of the most renowned sports festivals and is part of the IAAF Diamond League series.

Personal bests

  • 800 m: 1: 43.86 min, July 25, 1976, Montreal
  • 1000 m : 2: 15.5 min, July 14th 1976, Namur
  • 1500 m: 3: 36.26 min, July 9, 1976, Zurich

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ivo Van Damme died 40 years ago: Black day for Belgian sport. In: ostbelgiendirekt.be. December 29, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Van Damme, Ivo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian middle distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Brussels
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1976
Place of death Orange (Vaucluse)