Belgium’s Olympic dreams: Here is what to watch out for from Team Belgium

They are Belgium’s fittest and finest. They are heptathletes and hockey players, sailors and swimmers, boxers and badminton players, cyclists and canoeists, triathletes and taekwondo fighters. And they are heading to Paris to test their speed and strength against the greatest in the world in that quadrennial festival of sports, the Olympic Games.

When the Belgian squad marches out in the Stade de France for the July 26 opening ceremony, they will be hoping to seize their glorious moment.

Over 135 eager sportspeople will be competing in Paris this summer. “We have a fine delegation of athletes performing at the highest level," says Jean-Michel Saive, President of the Belgian Olympic Committee. “The team will be bigger than it was in Tokyo.”

Team Belgium won seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. In Paris, they have a well-stocked team featuring three Tokyo gold medallists: gymnast Nina Derwael, heptathlete Nafi Thiam and the Red Lions hockey squad. They will be bolstered by the Belgian Cats women’s basketball team, the Belgian Tornadoes 4x400m men’s relay runners, as well as world names like cyclist Wout van Aert.

“We are going into these Olympics with our heads held high. We are a strong delegation with lots of ambition. We will experience some incredible moments of emotion during the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Saive says.

Here is what to watch out for from Team Belgium.

Athletics

Let’s start with Belgium's brightest star, heptathlete Nafi Thiam, who clinched gold in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. The child of a Senegalese father and Belgian mother born in Brussels and raised in Namur, she spent years as a teenager getting the train from school to go training in Liège before returning to her home. She would later juggle athletics with studying geography at the University of Liège (specialist subject: the city sprawl in the sub-Sahara). Now 29, she is aiming for a heptathlon hat-trick in Paris.

There will be four Belgians in the triathlon: Jolien Vermeylen and Claire Michel for the women, with Jelle Geens and Marten Van Riel (fourth place in Tokyo) for the men.

In running events, the qualified women include Cynthia Bolingo in the 400m, Hanne Claes in the 400m hurdles and marathon runners Chloé Herbiet and Hanne Verbruggen.

Among the male runners, Bashir Abdi (who won bronze in Rio in 2016), Koen Naert and Michael Somers are competing in the marathon, Tibo De Smet and Pieter Sisk in the 800m, Alexander Doom in the 400m, John Heymans and Isaac Kimeli in the 5000m, and Michael Obasuyi in the 110m hurdles. On the field, Ben Broeders has qualified for the high jump.

Finally, there are the 4x400 relay teams. The men’s team, the so-called Belgian Tornadoes, includes Dylan Borlée, Alexander Doom, Jonathan Sacoor and (see interview with Dylan Borlée on page 28). The women’s relay team, the Belgian Cheetahs, came seventh in the Tokyo final in 2021 but had not yet secured their qualification at the time of writing. However, the mixed 4x400m relay, which came fifth in Tokyo, will be in Paris.

Basketball

The Belgian Cats

The women’s team, the Belgian Cats, have qualified and will hope to win Belgium’s first-ever Olympic medal in basketball. This is only the second time the Cats have qualified, after Tokyo, but they have gained ground, coming fifth in the 2022 FIBA World Cup and winning the 2023 EuroBasket Women.

Boxing

Bucharest-born Vasile Usturoi has qualified in the men’s featherweight (under 57 kg) category, while Roesselare’s Oshin Derieuw will compete in the women’s welterweight (under 66 kg).

Canoeing

Two-time European bronze medallist Artuur Peters will compete in his third Olympics in the canoe sprint K-1 1,000m. while Lize Broekx and Hermien Peters, in the women’s K2 500m sprint, already booked their ticket to Paris last summer.

Cycling

Wout van Aert

Belgium has a rich cycling heritage and the squad in Paris has a good chance to add to its 27 Olympic cycling medals.

Wout van Aert, a triple winner of both the World Championships and World Cup, is one of the favourites in the road race, where he won silver in Tokyo, and time trial. Remco Evenepoel is also vying for both the road race and time trial: the 2022 Vuelta a España winner and 2022 UCI Champion will, like van Aert, also be competing in the Tour de France just before the Olympics,

World champion Lotte Kopecky will not be racing at the Tour de France Femmes so she can focus on the Olympics, where the 28-year-old from Rumst is a favourite for the individual time trial and road race.

Meanwhile, Jens Schuermans has qualified for his third Olympics in men’s mountain bike.

Fencing

Historically, one of Belgium’s strongest sports, but in Paris their only hopeful is Neisser Loyola in the Sword category.

Gymnastics

Nina Derwael

All eyes will be on Nina Derwael, Belgium's first-ever Olympic gold medallist in gymnastics, whose innovative routines have significantly raised the profile of the sport, inspiring a new generation of athletes.

The Sint-Truiden-born gymnast, now 24, started at the Topsportschool in Ghent at age 11, and by 15, he had already won her first Belgian senior title. At 16, she made her debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finishing 19th, and the next year was crowned European champion. More medals and titles followed, culminating in her Tokyo triumph.

Recently dogged by a shoulder injury, Derwael had to drop out of the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp last September, later undergoing surgery that sidelined her for three months. While she won gold in Tokyo for the uneven bars, in Paris she has qualified for the all-around – where she is joined by Maellyse Brassart.

Amongst the men, Luka Van den Keybus will compete in the all-around, alongside Noah Kuavita, who has also qualified for the parallel bars.

Hockey

The Belgian men's hockey team, known as the Red Lions, secured the gold medal in Tokyo 2020 following their first World Cup title in 2018 (see separate article page 20). With a core of experienced players and a smart tactical approach, they are naturally aiming to defend their Olympic title.

The women’s team, the Red Panthers, will be at the Olympics for only the second time after London in 2012, when they came 11^th. But their recent form has been impressive: silver medallists in the 2023 EuroHockey Nations Championship and fourth place in the past two seasons in the FIH Pro League.

Equestrian

In equestrian sports, Belgium has a solid base to build on, winning bronze in the team jumping in Tokyo, and this year, they have strong contenders in dressage, eventing and jumping. The likes of show jumpers Jérôme Guéry and Gregory Wathelet have consistently performed well in international competitions and will be joined by Gilles Thomas and Koen Vereecke. Cyril Gavrilovic, Lara de Liedekerke, Jarno Verwimp and Karin Donckers will be in the eventing team, while Larissa Pauluis, Charlotte Defalque, Flore Winne and Domien Michiels will compete in dressage.

Judo

Judo is one of the disciplines where Belgium has brought home the most Olympic medals, some 13, including two golds: Ulla Werbrouck in the women's half-heavyweight (72kg) in 1996 and Robert Van de Walle in Moscow in 1980 for half-heavyweight (95kg). In 1996, four of Belgium’s six medals were in judo.

The best hope in Paris is Matthias Casse, who won bronze in Tokyo in the 81kg category and was World Champion in 2021. Toma Nikiforov, who was European champion in 2021 and 2018 in the 100kg, may see Paris as his last Olympic challenge.

Rowing

Belgium can boast Tim Brys in the single sculls as well as the duo Niels Van Zandweghe and Tibo Vyvey in the lightweight double sculls.

Sailing

The biggest medal chance is with Ostend-born Emma Plasschaert, a two-time World Champion, in the Laser Radial class, who finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics. William De Smet is also in the Laser Radial, while duo Isaura Maenhaut and Anouk Geurts will be in 49er FX event.

Swimming

Lucas Henveaux will swim the 400m freestyle at the Paris Games, while Valentine Dumont has qualified in both 200m and 400m freestyle, Florine Gaspard in 50m freestyle and Roos Vanotterdijk is in the 100m backstroke.

Taekwondo

Sarah Chaâri

Sarah Chaâri, the 2022 World Champion, will compete in the middleweight 57-67kg. A 19-year-old medicine student at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), she was also crowned European Champion in Belgrade in May.

Weightlifting

Nina Sterckx

Nina Sterckx, 21, has qualified in two categories for the Paris Olympic Games: in the under-49kg (seventh in the Olympic qualification ranking) and under-59kg (tenth). In Tokyo in 2021, aged just 18, Sterckx finished fifth and set a new Belgian record (180kg: 81kg in the snatch and 99kg in the clean and jerk). At the time, to be able to make the category, she had to lose 9.5kg, or 16% of her normal body weight.