Tia Hellebaut

Infobox Athlete
playername = Tia Hellebaut

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imagesize = 250px
country = BEL
alias =
club =
datebirth = birth date and age|mf=yes|1978|2|16
placebirth = flagicon|BEL Antwerp
height = height|m=1.82
weight = convert|62|kg|lb|0
turnedpro =
retired =
pb = High jump (outdoor): 2.05 m
High jump (indoor): 2.05 m [ [http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=137767/index.html Tia Hellabaut's IAAF profile] ]
olympics = 1st (Beijing, 2008)
worlds =
highestranking = 2nd (Athens, 2006)
coaching =
updated =

Tia Hellebaut (born February 16, 1978 in Antwerp, Belgium) is a Belgian Olympic champion and athlete who used to be active in the heptathlon but now specializes in the high jump event. She holds the Belgian records for heptathlon, indoor pentathlon, and high jump, both indoors and outdoors. [ [http://www.flanderstoday.eu/jahia/Jahia/cache/offonce/pid/2259;jsessionid=B15062831BF52DCC3D7468E195118529 Great Expectations, Flanders Today, August 6, 2008 ] ]

Hellebaut is being trained by her partner, Wim Vandeven, at her club, Atletica 84. She was a professional athlete with Atletiek Vlaanderen in the period from 2001 to October 2005. From November 1, 2006 she again became a professional athlete, this time at Bloso. Currently she lives in Tessenderlo.

At the 2006 European Championships and 2007 Indoor European Championships Hellebaut won the gold medal in high jump. The 2006 victory became especially notable, when just a couple of minutes later her close friend and compatriot Kim Gevaert completed a historical sprint double. The images of both athletes celebrating their victory together, wrapped in a national flag, became part of Belgian sports history.

In 2007 Hellebaut set the fourth best pentathlon score of all time, but chose not to contest the European Indoor Championships because of illness, choosing instead to compete only in the high jump, which she later won. Most of the remainder of her 2007 high jump season was hampered by an ankle injury.

A shoulder injury, which makes it difficult for her to throw the javelin has meant that it is unlikely Hellebaut will ever again contest a heptathlon.

For the 2008 indoor season, Hellebaut returned her focus to multi-events and became world champion of pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, where she set a secord for the best high jump result in a women's multi-event competition, clearing 1.99 m. [ [http://www.iaaf.org/WIC08/news/kind=100/newsid=43519.html iaaf.org - Gevaert on top of the world in Gent - PREVIEW ] ]

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, Hellebaut won the gold medal in the high jump, ahead of the favorite, Blanka Vlašić of Croatia, with a new outdoor personal best of 2.05 m. Her achievement represented the first-ever athletics gold medal in the Olympics for a Belgian woman, and only the second of any color, one day after Belgium won their first (Silver) medal in the 4×100m relay.

International achievements

External links

* [http://www.tiahellebaut.be Tia Hellebaut Official Website]
* [http://usuarios.lycos.es/biloska/Tia_Hellebaut.htm Tia Hellebaut Pictures]

References

Persondata
NAME=Hellebaut, Tia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Professional Athlete, concentrates on high jump, penta- & heptathlon
DATE OF BIRTH=February 16, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH=Antwerp, Belgium
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=