Joseph "Jef" Scherens (17 February 1909 – 9 August 1986) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

professional

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

, specializing in sprint where he won seven

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Biography

Early life

Jef Scherens was born in

Werchter Werchter is a small village in Belgium which has been part of the municipality of Rotselaar since 1 January 1977. It is the site of Rock Werchter and the birthplace of the painters Cornelius Van Leemputten and Frans Van Leemputten. The origin ...

, the fifth child of the Felix Scherens-Regina Janssens family. Little Jef soon became 'Jefke', but also 'Poeterke'. In the

Hageland The Hageland is a landscape in the Flemish Region of Belgium, situated in the eastern part of the Province of Flemish Brabant. It is mainly comprised between the cities of Aarschot, Leuven, Tienen and Diest, and probably coincides to some extent w ...

, that was a name for a little goat or lamb that did not grow well. His fellow street rabble-rousers first distorted it into 'Poeter', which later became 'Poeske' (Flemish for "small cat"). When Jef Scherens later turned out to be a very fast sprinter with a cat-like final jump, that nickname was given existence. From the age of five until the end of WWI, young Jef stayed with his family near Bordeaux, where he learned to speak French. At the end of primary school, the Committee for Vocational Orientation recommended that Jefke would go to work. So it happened: Jef worked in a leather factory and cycled up and down to Zaventem every day in group. That gave him the idea of trying out as a cyclist. His brother Giel, who was one year older, competed in the rookies. With one of his two racing bikes, Jef made his debut in a race in Betekom in 1926. That same year he won six victories and numerous places of honour. In 1927, he joined the Leuven Stoempersclub and won forty races in the newcomers' category. Because of the many successes, he decided to quit his job and put everything on cycling. The following year, he won 27 times among the juniors. In particular, his sprinting skills came to the fore.

Professional career

His qualities as a sprinter did not go unnoticed and the team's president Edward Van Hove, offered him a contract to compete in a sprint competition at the Brussels Sports Palace. On 14 October 1928, Scherens won against the then Belgian champion Jules Vervust. All connoisseurs were then convinced they had discovered a new champion. In 1929 he won five road races. That year, he did his military service and was granted the privilege of training at certain times. A fall in 1930 kept him in bed for seven weeks. In 1931, he made a comeback and became Belgian champion in the professional category. Between 1931 and 1947, he won the Belgian individual sprit championship 15 times. In 1932, Scherens competed in the world championship in Rome and faced the Frenchman

Lucien Michard Lucien Michard (born Épinay-sur-Seine, France, 17 November 1903, died 1 November 1985) was a French racing cyclist and Olympic track champion. He won four successive world championships and lost a fifth even though he crossed the l ...

in the final. Their duel lasted more than 20 minutes, however, so the jury decided to draw lots to see which of the two would go first. Michard was chosen and Scherens, with his famous spurt, won the title of world champion. He was celebrated in Leuven, where he had lived since 1930. He subsequently won the world track championships five times: in 1933 in Paris, in 1934 in Leipzig, in 1935 in Brussels, in 1936 in Zurich and in 1937 in Copenhagen. In July 1938, he had a serious fall during the Paris Grand Prix at the Cipale2. Not yet fully recovered from his fall, he lost his title to the Dutchman

Arie van Vliet Arie Gerrit van Vliet (18 March 1916 – 9 July 2001) was a Dutch sprint cyclist. Between 1934 and 1957, he won 13 medals at world championships, including four gold medals, and set several world records in sprint events, despite the interr ...

. Van Vliet and Scherens met again a year later in the final in Milan and both fell. The final was postponed. The next day, the Second World War broke out and the championship was cancelled. After a six-year break, the world championships were held again in Zurich in 1946. Scherens lost to the Frenchman

Georges Senfftleben Georges Senfftleben (19 December 1922 in Clamart – 24 August 1998 in Èze) was a French track cyclist. Major results ;1944 :1st National Sprint Championships :1st Grand Prix de Paris ;1946 :2nd World Sprint Championships ;1947 :1st Nation ...

. The following year, he managed to win a seventh and final title in Paris. Grand Prix van Amsterdam, Bestanddeelnr 902-2523

Scherens also won numerous Grand Prix in various countries, breaking records at all the major velodromes in Europe. In 1933, he was awarded the

Belgian National Sports Merit Award The Belgian National Sports Merit Award is an annual award handed out to a Belgian sportsperson or -team for exceptional merit. Players can only win the award once during their career, making this trophy one of the most prestigious in Belgian sports ...

. Since 1963, the Grote Prijs Jef Scheren has been held in his honour in Leuven, the place where he died in 1986.

Major Results

; 1929 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint, Independent Belgian National Championships ; 1930 :3rd Bronze medal blank

Sprint Belgian National Championships ; 1931 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Grand Prix d'Angers :1st Grand Prix de la République :1st Grand Prix de Cholet :3rd Bronze medal uci

Sprint,

UCI Track World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

, Copenhagen ; 1932 :1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint,

, Rome :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st

Grand Prix de Paris The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and i ...

:1st Amsterdam Grand Prix :1st Berlin Grand Prix :1st Brussels Grand Prix :1st Copenhagen Grand Prix :1st Grand Prix de Tours :2nd Grand Prix de l'UVF ; 1933 :1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint,

, Paris :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Grand Prix de l'UVF :1st

:1st Grand Prix d'Europe :1st Grand Prix d'Alger :1st Grand Prix d'Angers :1st Grand Prix d'Europe :1st Grand Prix de Paris ; 1934 :1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint,

, Leipzig :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Grand Prix de l'UVF :1st Grand Prix de Lorient :1st Copenhagen Grand Prix :1st Grand Prix de Lyon :1st Grand Prix de Roanne ; 1935 :1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint,

, Brussels :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Grand Prix de Reims :1st Grand Prix d'Europe :1st Grand Prix de Brest :1st Grand Prix de Lorient :1st Milan Grand Prix :3rd Grand Prix de l'UVF ; 1936 :1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint,

, Zürich :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Grand Prix de Genève :1st Copenhagen Grand Prix :1st Cologne Grand Prix :1st Grand Prix de Lorient :1st Zürich Grand Prix : 2nd

: 2nd Grand Prix de l'UVF :3rd Grand Prix de Reims ; 1937 :1st Jersey rainbow

Sprint,

, Copenhagen :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships : 1st

:1st Grand Prix de Turin :1st Antwerp Grand Prix :1st Berlin Grand Prix :1st Copenhagen Grand Prix :1st London Grand Prix :1st Milan Grand Prix :1st Grand Prix de Paris : 3rd Grand Prix de l'UVF ; 1938 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st London Grand Prix :1st Milan Grand Prix :2nd Silver medal uci

Sprint,

, Amsterdam : 2nd Grand Prix de l'UVF : 2nd Copenhagen Grand Prix ; 1939 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Copenhagen Grand Prix ; 1940 :2nd Silver medal blank

Sprint Belgian National Championships : 2nd Six Days of Brussels (with

Achiel Bruneel Achiel Bruneel (19 October 1918 – 5 June 2008) was a professional track cyclist from Herenthout, Belgium. He rode different Six-days events of which he eventually won 12, remarkably with 9 different teammates. Major results ;1940 : 2n ...

) ; 1941 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Ghent Grand Prix :1st Grand Prix de Bordeaux : 2nd Schaarbeek ; 1942 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships : 1st Grand Prix de l'UVF : 3rd

; 1943 1st Ghent Grand Prix :2nd Silver medal blank

Sprint Belgian National Championships : 2nd

; 1944 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships ; 1945 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Zürich Grand Prix ; 1946 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships :1st Copenhagen Grand Prix :1st Grand Prix de Bruxelles : 3rd

; 1947 :1st MaillotBélgica

Sprint Belgian National Championships, Paris ; 1949 :1st Grand Prix de Paris :2nd Silver medal blank

Sprint Belgian National Championships :3rd Bronze medal europe

1km Sprint

European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC ...

; 1950 :3rd Bronze medal blank

Sprint Belgian National Championships

Honours

* Officer in the Belgian

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgium ...

: 1933 *

Grote Prijs Jef Scherens Grote Prijs Jef Scherens is a single-day road bicycle race held annually in September in Leuven, Belgium. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race is named after the seven-time professional sprint world c ...

: from 1963 *

UCI Hall of Fame The UCI Hall of Fame, that not to be confused with Cycling Hall of Fame or the University of California, Irvine's Hall of Fame, was launched by the ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI) in 2002 to "honor all those who by their heroic deeds or th ...

: 2002 * A road, Jef Scherensstraat in

Rotselaar Rotselaar () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish-Brabant, near the convergence of the Demer and the Dijle. Since January 1, 1977 the municipality comprises the towns of Rotselaar proper, Werchter and Wezemaal. On January ...

References

External links

* Belgian male cyclists UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) 1909 births 1986 deaths Cyclists from Flemish Brabant People from Rotselaar Belgian track cyclists {{Belgium-cycling-bio-1900s-stub