Kim Gevaert (born 5 August 1978 in
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
) is a former
sprint
Sprint may refer to:
Aerospace
*Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design
*Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile
Automotive and motorcycle
*Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989
*Chevrolet Sprint, ...
athlete
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
and Olympic champion from
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
.
Career
Her closest brush with a world title came in running 4/100 of a second behind three-time champion
Gail Devers at the
2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics
The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004. A total off 139 countries were rep ...
. At the next World Indoor Championships, in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, she won the
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...
in a
national record time of 7.11 seconds.
On 9 August 2006 Gevaert won the
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...
at the
European Championships
The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...
in 11.06 seconds. Two days later, she also won the final of the
200 metres
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...
, which was celebrated together with fellow Belgian athlete
Tia Hellebaut, who had won
gold in the
high jump
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...
final only minutes before Kim Gevaert. With her first medal, Gevaert became the first Belgian gold medalist at the European Championships in 35 years and the first woman to win the sprint double since 1994.
At the
2007 World Championships she won a
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...
in the
4 × 100 metres relay
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...
, together with teammates
Hanna Mariën
Hanna Emilie Mariën (born 16 May 1982) is a Belgian retired athlete and bobsledder. As a sprinter, Mariën specialized in the 200 metres and won gold in the relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Mariën later became a bobsleigher, competing f ...
,
Olivia Borlée
Olivia Borlée (born 10 April 1986 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert) is a retired Belgium, Belgian sprinter who specialized in the 200 metres. Her personal best time in the 200 is 22.98 seconds, achieved in July 2006 in Brussels. She has a personal best o ...
and
Élodie Ouédraogo. With 42.75 seconds the team set a new Belgian record. A few days earlier as best European athlete she had finished 5th in a thrilling 100 m final.
On her 30th birthday, three days before the opening of the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
in Beijing, Gevaert announced that she would retire at the end of the 2008 season.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Gevaert was in the best condition of her life. She reached the 100 m semifinals by ending 3rd in her quarterfinals, but after missing her start she finished sixth and failed to proceed to the finals.
In the finals of the
4×100 m for women a couple of days later, Gevaert ran the final leg for the Belgian team and finished in second behind the Russians to bring home the
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
in a new Belgian record of 42.54 seconds. On 16 August 2016, it was announced that the IOC had officially disqualified the Russian 4 x 100 metres relay team after
Yuliya Chermoshanskaya's re-tested samples revealed two illegal substances, awarding the gold medal to the Belgian team.
She was awarded the gold medal eight years late on September 10, 2016.
On 5 September 2008, Kim Gevaert ended her career running the 100 m at the
Memorial Van Damme in
Brussels, Belgium, a race which she won in 11.25.
Personal life
Gevaert has two brothers, Marlon and John, and a sister Sigrid. Marlon competed in sprint at the national level in Belgium before becoming a national sprint coach in New Zealand. In 2010 Gevaert married her long-time partner and a fellow athlete
Djeke Mambo. They have two sons and one daughter, who are bilingual, as the principal language of their father is French and of their mother is Flemish.
Honours
* 2009 : Dame Grand Cross of the
Order of the Crown, by Royal Decree of H.M. King Albert II.
Major achievements
Personal best
*60 metres: 7.10 seconds (Belgian Record)
*100 metres: 11.04 seconds (Wind: 2.0/Place: Brussels/Date:09 07 2006) (Belgian Record)
*200 metres: 22.20 seconds (Brussels/09 07 2006) (Belgian Record)
*400 metres: 51.45 seconds (-/Gent/08 05 2005) (Belgian Record)
References
External links
*
Profile: Kim Gevaert''All-Athletics.com''
Kim Gevaert's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gevaert, Kim
1978 births
Living people
Belgian female sprinters
Olympic athletes of Belgium
Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Belgium
World Athletics Championships athletes for Belgium
Sportspeople from Leuven
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
World Athletics Championships medalists
KU Leuven alumni
European Athletics Championships medalists
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists
Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
Universiade gold medalists for Belgium
Universiade silver medalists for Belgium
Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2001 Summer Universiade
Olympic female sprinters