Since
the successes of Clijsters and Henin tennis has been hugely popular in Belgium.
Although the popularity of tennis has a bit declined after the retirement of
Clijsters and Henin, it stil remains one of the more popular sports in
Belgium. There is however a sport that looks a bit like tennis, thats ridiculously
unknown here in Belgium. Im taking about squash, a racket sport played in a
glass cage with two players and a small badly bouncing ball. A sport where it
all depends on fast footwork, fast reflexes, lots of technique and lots of physique.
A beautiful sport, thats great fun to play with a friend (and because of the
fact that its only played inside, theres a fair chance of being able to relax
with a couple of drinks afterwards).
A
sport where we also have a top junior player, named Tinne Gillis, who is
currently ranked inside the top five of the junior world ranking (with three Egyptian
players in front of her whos only sorrow is to train and who dont go to
school any more , a bit different it is for 17 year old Gillis who has to go to
school as well try to train daily). With a second place last month at the European
junior championships, Gillis showed she is well on her way to have a great
future in squash, a future which could lead to an Olympic dream, because at
this very moment people at the top of the international Olympic are discussing
if they are going to accept squash as an official sport at the 2020 Olympic Games.
If squash would be a sport at the 2020 Olympic Games one thing is for sure,
Belgium would have a new Olympic medal hope. And squash in Belgium would get
the popularity it needs (and deserves)to keep on developing.
I
have done wall climbing a couple of times in my live now (outside on a real
mountain and inside in a sports hall), so far Ive had mixed success. The one
time I succeeded in climbing all the way to the top of a mountain I just
managed to beat a twelve year old boy who practiced the noble sport of wall
climbing (myself being 19) and I had muscle ache for more than a week.
What
I'm trying to say here is that wall climbing (what I did definitely wasn't a
thing professionals would call wall cimbing) can maybe look easy, but
its pretty hard when you try it yourself. Its a sport where you have to use
muscles you didnt even know existed and where you have to combine, strength,
tactics, physics and handiness all at the same time, and although most people
only do wall climbing a few times in their lives, when they have a sports day
on highschool or when they are on a
holiday in an area where there are mountains that can be climbed, there are international
competitions of wall climbing which are divided into different sub disciplines.
In
the womans wall climbing L.E.A.D. discipline we have a young Belgian whos
competing at world class level. Only being eighteen years old, Anak Verhoeven
was fourth at the world climbing world cup overall stand at the end of last
wall climbing season. An amazing performance, which hasnt been (or has barely
been) on the news what so ever. Despite the fact that wall climbing is an
international sport (in last years top ten there where women from Korea,
Slovenia, Australia, Belgium, ) , Belgian media doesnt seem to care about a
young Belgian talent whos world class in her sport (and doesnt earn 10 million pounds a year
like for example Eden Hazard). Im sure
that a lot of people would be amazed by the wall climbing sport if they would
be able to see a small fragment every couple of weeks on our national news,
sadly this isnt the case (yet), and as a dutch proverb says: Whats unknown is
unpopular. So what I would like to say to national media is the following (and
this doesnt apply only to wall climbing but lots of other sports as well) ,
please expand the sports coverage to more than just soccer and cycling, and try
to show to the people of Belgium that there are a lot of other top class
athletes (like Anak) who deserve as least as much praise as a Tom Boonen or an
Eden Hazard.
In
the night of 4 may 2015, our national athletics team the Belgian tornados, gave
away a brilliant performance at the world relay championships in the Bahamas. In
the 4x400 metres, they finished in 25933 which was a new national record,
and which gave them a bronze medal and puts them right in between the absolute
world top, they finished 3rd right after well-known sprinting
countries USA and Bahamas and before other famous sprinting countries like Great-Brittain,
Russia, Jamaica and Brazil. What makes this performance extra special is the fact that three
out of the four runners from the Belgian Tornados are members of the same
family, the Borlee family. The two twin brothers Jonathan and Kevin who have been
performing at the highest level the last couple of years now (Kevin has got three
golden medals at European championships, one medal at a world championship and
a fifth place at the London Olympics, Jonathan has got two golden medals at
European championships and a sixth place at the Londen Olympics) are probably the most famous ones. For the
last couple of years, the twin brothers are Belgiums biggest hope of getting a
medal in the 2016 Londen Olympics in the Athletics department. The last couple
of months however, theres another chapter thats being written in the Borlee
fairy tale. Kevin and Jonathans younger brother Dylan, whos only 22 years old
at the moment, has improved greatly the last year, he now to is capable of running
a world class 400 metres (just like his olther brothers). Prove of this came at the last European indoor
championships where Dylan won the individual 400 metres and together with his two brothers and Julien Watrin, won a
golden medal at the 4x400 metres, in a new European record. And as said in the
beginning , prove came again a few weeks later with a bronze medal at the world
relay championships. Three brothers running for the same athletics team at the highest level, it has never been seen before. And it will probably take a long
time before there will be three bothers performing at the same level again. Im
looking forward to the world championships this year already, held in Beijing,
on the same athletics venue where Tia Hellebaut became Olympic champion , and
where the sister of the three Borlee brothers, (yes that's right, there's also a sister who did competitive athletics at the higest level)Olivia, won a silver medal together
with Kim Gevaert, Elodie Ouédraogo and Hanna Mariën at the 4x100 metres, Im
hopefull their wel be another successful chapter written in the history of Belgian athletics and
another successful chapter in the history of the family Borlee.
At
the 8th of march 1971, millions of people worldwide where sitting in
front of their TV (another 20,000 lucky ones were at the stadium to watch the
match) to watch, what had been called the greatest fight ever, or the fight
of the century. A heavyweight boxing camp,between, Mohammed Ali (who had never been beaten in 31
professional boxing camps) and Joe Frazier (who had never been beaten in 26
professional boxing camps). The fight of the century broke all records, with a
price of 150 dollars for a single ticket it were the most expensive tickets for
a boxing match ever. With 300 million people watching the match worldwide, it
was the most watched boxing match in history and one of the most watched
sporting events in global sport history. With both boxers guaranteed a minimum
of 2,5 million dollars price money (the winner could almost double that amount),
it also was the biggest amount of money boxing champs match could ever win. Afther the fight, as it always goe in the world of sports, boxing fans worldwide where waiting for a match that could surpass the fight of
the century.
After waiting for 44 years, there waiting was
rewarded, with a new fight of the century between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and
Manny Pacquiao on the 2nd of May 2015. Just as the first fight of
the century it was the place to be for the American
jet set (with ticket prices ranging between 1500 and 150,000 dollars, a few examples: Beyonce and Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Jake Gyllenhaal, Denzel
Washington, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, Paris Hilton, Robert De Niro, Michael
J Fox, 50cent, Paris Hilton and a lot of others. With Mayweather earning around 200 million dollars
because of the fight and Pacquiao earning around 125 million, Mayweather and Pacquiao
are number one and two in history when it comes to earnings after one single boxing
match. With over 600 million people (90% of all Philippines were said to have
watched the match of their hero Pacquiao) to have watched the fight, it also is
the most watched boxing match in the sports history.
The last time I had watched a sports match in the middle of the night was almost a year ago (a late night football match ath the world championships), but I couldn't bare the fact of not watching "the greatest boxing match in history" live, so I staid up all night for the match, and paid to see te match in HD. As it turned out the match was an ok match at the technical and physical level, but was for from spectacular. Still, if I live to see the next fight of the century I will definitely be watching it in front of tv, wheiter it's at 4 a.m. , 4 p.m. or something in between.
I
personally, will always remember the day I was legally able to rip the L off of
my car because I had passed my drivers exam and got my driving licence, the
reason I remember is because although Im regularly a pretty relaxed person who
doesnt have much stress, I was absolutely terrified the day I tried to get my
driving licence.
As
most people, I took driving lessons a few weeks after I turned eighteen,
and got my driving licence about six months later, being one of the
first of my friends to get my driving licence I felt pretty proud being able to
drive my 12 year old Renault all by myself (although I didnt like being the
one who couldnt drink most of the time) , this sense of proudness decreased a
little bit when I read an article past summer about Max Verstappen (son of Jos
Verstappen , former formula 1 driver), who would become the youngest formula 1
driver in history at age 17. A few months later, the article hadnt lied to me,
at the 15th of march 2015, Max Verstappen , just barely 17 years old
became the youngest formula 1 driver in history (although legally he wasnt
even allowed to ride with a 12 year old Renault on public (high)ways).
A
lot of people had their doubts about Max Verstappen, a lot of people said he
wasnt good enough (yet), a lot of people said he got his place in formula 1
because of his dad. All those people have to acknowledge the fact that they were
wrong, because Max (absolutely not having the best or most expensive car on the
starting grid), finished 7th in his second race ever (after blowing
up his motor in his first race), giving him points for the riders and
constructors championship, and giving him the privilege of being the youngest
person ever, to receive points for the riders world championship (he received points
again in his 3th race). After four races, Max is ranked inside the top twelve of the driving championship, so I think even the greatest critic has to
acknowledge the fact that Max is an exceptional driver, even at age 17. A
driver who isnt afraid to reach top speeds of over 200 mph, who is capable to
keep his nerves and keep focused for over 4 hours and a driver who definitely
has his place between experience drivers (and millionaires) like Fernando Alonso or Jenson Button
who are literally twice his age. Im looking forward to seeing Max evolve into
a world champion, which he definitely one day will be. With a double Dutch and Belgian nationality (and spending most of his spare time in our country), I would advise all motorsport enthousiasts to support Max in every whey they possibly can.
With
Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin , the people of Belgium a couple of
years ago said goodbye to the two greatest tennis players Belgium had ever had.
Thousands of children began playing tennis because they wanted to win grand
slam tournaments, just as Kim and Justine did on a regular base. But as always
in the world of sport (and perhaps even in the world in general), (sport)heroes
are cheered when they are on top of their careers and are forgotten the moment
they retire. Together with the decreasing popularity of Clijsters and Henin ,
the popularity of tennis in general decreased heavily.
For
to be popular, a sport has to have its own national heroes who are top of the
world in their sport just look at the popularity past summer of our national
football team and compare it to the popularity of the same national football
team five years ago when they couldnt win against countries like Kazakhstan or
Azerbaijan. If you keep this in mind, its not that bizarre that the last five
years or so, there are less people playing tennis, then ten-fifteen years ago
when Clijsters and Henin where busy winning grand slams.
There
is hope even so, for tennis in our country, to become more popular again, The
reason for this hope is world class player David Goffin, who at the age of 24
already has been ranked in the top 20 of the world for over 6 months now, with
his current ranking , 21th of the world , there are only two players younger
than him (Dimitrov ranked 11th and Raonic ranked 6th) who
are ranked higher than him, so if Goffin can keep improving his game, theres a
considerable chance that in a couple of years, the people of Belgium, can go
back cheering for a Belgian at the final of Roland Garros or Wimbledon again and
go back playing tennis again.
If
we look at the current season, Goffin is playing a solid season, with a nine
wins, nine losses balance at the top tournaments (including a couple of nice
victories against top twenty players Gulbis (ranked 20th) en
Baghdatis (ranked 18th) and some close losses against Nishikori
(ranked 4th) , Wawrinka (ranked 9th) and Tsonga (ranked
14th). With is current ranking Goffin has a big advantage for the
second grandslam of the year, Roland Garros, he will be a seed, which means he
will have to face players ranked a considerable amount of places below him in the
first two or three rounds, if Goffin is able to get to round 3 (or more), he
will definitely go up a considerable amount of places, becoming the best
Belgian male tennis player ever (beating Xavier Malisse who stood 19th
for a couple of weeks), because last year, when he was still ranked outside the
top 75 , he lost in the first round of Roland Garros. My advice for all Belgian
sport or tennis enthousiasts and all tennis lovers worldwide, keep an eye on
the 24 year old Belgian form Liège, cause he could suddenly be our new male version of Clijsters or Henin.
