Rens Blom
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Rens Blom
OR:
Rens Blom on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Rens Blom (born 1 March 1977) is a Dutch retired athlete competing in
pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...
.


Life

Blom was born in
Munstergeleen Munstergeleen (; li, Munstergelaen ) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, and it lies in the Western Mine Region (''Westelijke Mijnstreek'' in Dutch). History No one knows exactly ho ...
. He achieved a vault of 5.75 as early as in 2000, but five years passed without much further progress. However, on 8 June 2004 in
Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
, he set the Dutch record with 5.81. In 2005, he consolidated his position by clearing 5.80 early in May. At the
2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005), the site of the first IAAF ...
, he once again achieved 5.80 and won the gold medal. It was the first Dutch gold medal at a World Championship. In addition, Blom has won five national championships and four national indoor championships. The year 2006 turned out to be a frustrating year for Blom, full of bad luck and injuries. Problems with his shoulder, knees and
Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...
s resulting in an operation caused 2006 to become a "lost" year for the passionate Dutchman. Finally, in mid-October, he cautiously resumed his training programme, and achieved better results in several indoor events at the start of 2007. Blom is a two-time Olympian. At the
2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
in Sydney he did not survive the qualification round. Four years later during the 2004 Summer Olympics, he ended up on the 9th place. At a press conference in Sittard on 26 September 2008, Blom announced his retirement from the sport, feeling that, after various injuries and operations, his body no longer allowed him to strain it to the utmost. During his career Rens Blom collected six Dutch indoor and seven Dutch outdoor titles altogether. He returned to the sport in the 2013 season.


Competition record


External links


Official homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blom, Rens 1977 births Living people Dutch male pole vaulters Olympic athletes of the Netherlands Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics People from Sittard-Geleen World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for the Netherlands World Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Dutch people 21st-century Dutch people Sportspeople from Limburg (Netherlands)