Kim Gevaert

Kim Gevaert (born August 5, 1978 in Leuven) is a former Belgian sprint athlete. [http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/7/241027.shtml Athlete biography: Kim Gevaert] , beijing2008.cn, ret: Aug 27, 2008]

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. At the next World Indoor Championships, in 2006, she won the bronze medal in a national record time of 7.11 seconds.

On August 9, 2006 she won the 100 metres at the European Championships in 11.06 seconds. Two days later, she also won the final of the 200 metres, which was celebrated together with fellow Belgian athlete Tia Hellebaut, who had won gold in the high jump 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 in the 4x100 m relay, together with teammates Hanna Mariën, Olivia Borlée 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 metres final.

On her 30th birthday, three days before the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Gevaert announced that she will retire at the end of the 2008 season. [ [http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/news/kind=100/newsid=46419.html Gevaert to retire at end of season - IAAF] ]

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she came in second after the Russians in the finals of the 4×100 m for women. She, together with the team mentioned above, evidently won the silver medal. After a thrilling final her team managed to beat the Belgian record again. Since 22 August 2008, the Belgian record in 4×100 m is 42.54 seconds. As an individual at the 100 metres sprint she placed first in her first-round heat in front of Yulia Nestsiarenka and Ti Huong Vu in a time of 11.33 to advance to the second round. There she improved her time to 11.10 seconds to finish third behind Kerron Stewart and Lauryn Williams and reached the semifinals. She failed to qualify for the final race as her time of 11.30 seconds was only the sixth time of her semi final heat.

On 5 September 2008, she ended her career running the 100 metres at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium, a race which she won in 11'25.

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)

External links

*iaaf name|id=110255|name=Kim Gevaert
* [http://usuarios.lycos.es/noabia/kimgevaert.htm Kim Gevaert Pictures]
* [http://www.kimgevaert.be Kim Gevaert's website]

References