Bad luck for Belgian sailors

No medalrace for our Belgian sailors. Their Olympic adventure has ened with ahuge disappointment. Everything seemed possible the last couple of days. With all the regattas postponed because of the bad weather conditions everything could happen. Brouwer and Godefroid were climbed up to the ninth spot so it was still likely for them to place for the medalrace. Race 8, the first today, was nevertheless good for eighth place in the overall rankings.

But then the worse that could happen did happen. It went from bad to worse. The Belgian duo suffered several problems with their equipment and had to call it quits. Because of this they dropped to the 12th place. The tenth and final race could make no difference, a top-10 place was no longer in their cards.

A major disappointment for Sebastien Godefroid as this were his last Olympics as a sailor.

No 200 m for Kim Gevaert

Sprinter Kim Gevaert has decided to not take part in the 200 m sprint event at the Olympics. After deliberation with her coach she will now concentrate on the 4×100 Relay later this week. Due to alingering achilles tendon injury, she doesn’t want to jeopardise the 4×100 relay event. Since she already reached the 200 metres final at the Olympic Games in 2004, the challenge was go through to the final sprint of the 100 metres. Because she didn’t make the cut, she hopes to set her dissapointment straight in the relay event.

Footballteam saves Belgium’s honour!

What nobody thought was possible, the young footballteam has accomplished. They surprised everyone in and outside the country after their quarter final match. Our countrymen could place themselves amongst the last four countries of the Olympic Football tournament. The Belgians left behind a strong impression and played their best game yet during the Olympics so far. After all the criticism and smear campaign that the football team had to endure over the past weeks they have really surpassed themselves. The equippe was described as a close friend group, a team that played very maturely and believed in their own strength.

In the semifinal the young Belgians take on Nigeria. They believe in their chances of a final and even went so far to tell the public they are no longer satisfied with the bronze after the match they played today. If the red devils win a medal they will in the mean time save the honour of Belgium that is still awaiting to win its first medal. But can they stand that great task? Let’s find out in a couple of days.

Tom Vangeneugden 5th swimmer that improves record

One of the Belgian swimmers, Tom Vangeneugden, originated from Limburg, improved his Belgian record today on the 1500 metres freestyle. The best eight swimmers of the heats were allowed through to the final. Vangeneugden didn’t succeed in doing that but still finished third in heat 2 of 5 heats. He swam the 20th time and finally ended up 22 seconds short for a finals ticket. Vangeneugden reacts very happy because after all his aim was to sharpen his national record. He was the fifth of the Belgian swimteam that succeeded in doing that.

Belgian sailors stuck in the middle

The sailors had a lot to endure over the last past days. Due to a lack of wind the races of both the Laser Radial and Tornado classes were postponed. Neither Evi Van Acker or the duo Brouwer / Godefroid could be seen at the start of the race.

But then today they could finally start. Evi Van Acker who has to compete on her own in the Laser Radial Class wasn’t able move up in the ranking. She is having a difficult time and feels there is more she can do in the races. After her phenomenal start in the first race it’s all getting a bit difficult.

The sailors in the Tornado class, for Belgium those are Carolijn Brouwer and Sebastien Godefroid, also had a relatively difficult start. The Belgians finished 11th. It seems like the Belgian sailors are somehow stuck in the middle. On Saturday they should really go up a gear.

Succesfull day for Belgian teams

For the Belgian teams competing at the Olympics Wednesday was at least a very succesful day. It could not have been better for the Belgian football team. They just assured themselves of a place in the quarter finals.

Today also the beachvolleyball players Liesbeth Van Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha finally won a game. China isn’t ready for them to leave, although they are only third in the group ranking. There is still a small chance they are still in the 1/8 finals.

The Belgian hockey team, the ‘Red Lions’ as they like to call themselves, have harvested a small victory in the form of a tie against one of the world’s top teams in the tournament, namely 1-1 against Germany, the current world champion. There was even more in the cards than a draw. Let that be a good sign because it means they are still in the running for a top-2 position in their poule.

Game Over for Rochus and Darcis

Over and out for the Olympic dream of tennis players Olivier Rochus and Steve Darcis.

Rochus was the first to battle it out, his opponent was no other than Fernando Gonzalez, No. 15 of the world and also the bronze medallist of Athens 2004. The strong Chilean proved once again why he is placed so much higher on the ranking and the small Belgian lost out to him in a record time. The final result was: 6-0, 6-3.

The end for Rochus in the tournament, if it weren’t to be he still needed to finish off the men’s double match against the Russians, Davydenko and Andrejevs, with his companion Steve Darcis. The game started rather well for them. They got ahead of their opponents and it looked promising for them. However they could not sustain the momentum and eventually they couldn’t save what was left of their good start. Next the Russians took over and claimed the victory.

With another two Belgians gone, the medal chances for Belgium are diminished once again.

Rochus in 1/8 finals

Who would have claimed a week ago that tennisser Olivier Rochus was up for the 1/8 finals in the Olympics would have been declared mental. He didn’t get the support from the Belgian Olympic Commitée and had to fight his way to come to Beijing. It certainly paid off because he’s now one of the last sixteen players in the tournament. Rochus could win from Janko Tipsarevic, who had to give up after he injured himself during the match.

The results – > Olivier Rochus vs. Janko Tipsarevic: 7-6, 2-3

Of course Rochus hates to win in such circumstances but he also looks forward to play his next match. It will undoubtedly be one of the heavier matches for him. He’s up against Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) who is nr. 15 on the ATP-ranking, Rochus is 72th.

Cyclist Decroix not up against weather conditions

The women in the cyclism/roadtrack event weren’t that lucky today. Who complained about the weather conditions during the men’s competition, would not believe what it was like today. Heavy rainfall, falls, extreme cold, in one day the weather changed drastically. Lots of cyclists couldn’t bear the extreme changes and had to pull back. That was also the case of the Belgian Lieselot Decroix. She got super cooled and ended a dissapointing 44th spot. She trained a whole year in some warmth chamber just so she could stand the heat extreme humidity level. Just this one day the weather changes drastically and all prepartion was pretty much for nothing. Gold went to Nicole Cook, Silver and bronze to Johanson and Guderzo.

Rowers Raes and Poelvoorde get another shot

The Belgian rowers in the double two have not succeeded to place for the semi-finals. They had to end up with a top-3 placing in their series in order to go through. Instead they took fourth place tight after the German team who were third.

Raes and Poelvoorde get another shot on Monday. If they reach top-3, they can still compete in the semi-final.