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 2’59’’33 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 3^rd 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 Belgium’s biggest hope of getting a medal in the 2016 Londen Olympics in the Athletics department. The last couple of months however, there’s another chapter that’s being written in the Borlee fairy tale. Kevin and Jonathan’s younger brother Dylan, who’s 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. I’m 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, I’m 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.

11-05-2015, 00:00 Geschreven door Rob Verwimp  

At the 8^th 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 2^nd 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. 

11-05-2015, 00:00 Geschreven door Rob Verwimp