Belgium’s road to Olympic gold: the heptathlon
At the last Olympics in Tokyo, Belgium had its most successful Games since 1948, with a total of seven medals. This year's Paris Olympics could be even better, with plenty of Belgian candidates in the running for a medal. Today, Belga English looks at the heptathlon.
Nafi Thiam is one of the most accomplished Belgian athletes of all time. The daughter of a Belgian mother and a Senegalese father, she made her breakthrough in 2014 when she won bronze at the European Championships in 2014.
Since then, she has established herself as the best heptathlete in the world, winning two European Championships, two World Championships and two Olympic golds, at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021. She has also won three European pentathlon titles and broke the indoor world record in 2023.
Achilles tendon
Thiam's chances in Paris this summer were long in doubt, as she struggled with Achilles tendon problems. Having not competed in a heptathlon since 2022, she made a successful comeback in June, winning her third European title and setting a championship record of 6,848 points.
“That I managed to show up right away means I have a good base to build on,” Thiam said after her latest gold. "My season has started in a great way. This is a very encouraging result towards the main goal:” a third Olympic gold medal.
"My season has started in a great way. This is a very encouraging result"
Belgian competition
Her biggest competition might come from Belgium. Noor Vidts is the world’s best pentathlete, winning back-to-back indoor World Championships in 2022 and 2024. Since the pentathlon is not contested during the Olympics, she will also take part in the heptathlon.
Pentathlon consists of 110m hurdles, 800m sprint, high jump, long jump and shot put. It was superseded by the heptathlon in the 1980s, by adding 200m sprint and the javelin. Women’s indoor pentathlon is the only version of the discipline that is still competed at a high level.
Vidts has a solid heptathlon track record too, finishing fourth in Tokyo. She also finished in fifth place in Eugene and fourth at the European Championships in 2023. At the Rome championships in June, she won her first outdoor medal as a senior, finishing third behind Thiam and France's Auriana Lazraq-Khlass.
Both Thiam and Vidts seem ready to dominate the event, potentially securing two medals for Belgium. All seven disciplines will be held on 8 and 9 August, ending with the 800m.
Nafi Thiam and Noor Vidts at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul, March 2023 © PHOTO OZAN KOSE / AFP
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