Gold medallist bows out with a smile

Tia Hellebaut, who took gold in the Beijing Olympics in the high jump, brought a sudden and unexpected end to her sporting career last week with news that she is expecting a baby in six months. She now becomes the fourth top Belgian sportswoman to quit in favour of a personal life, following Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin and Kim Gevaert.

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The news came as the Antwerp-born Hellebaut had convened the press to announce her ‘competition programme for 2009’ – which will now be more honoured in the breach than the observance. She took to the stage with her partner, Wim Vandeven, a former athlete turned physiotherapist. ‘Over the last few days, I have noticed that there are rumours, and I can now confirm that I will give up athletics and that I am expecting a baby,’ she announced.

The news – which she described as ‘a real dream scenario’ – soon left the sports pages and went mainstream, as the papers devoted double-page spreads to the departure of one of the last remaining stars of Belgian sport.

‘This was certainly no accident,’ she explained. ‘I have never made a secret of the fact that I wanted to become a mother. We let nature decide if I would be high-jumping next year. Sometimes I prefer not to think so much and just to get on and do it.’

The first indications came when Hellebaut cancelled a planned appearance at the Golden High Jump Gala in Antwerp in January. Then she accepted a number of invitations to attend sporting awards events, all of which fuelled the rumours.

Her retirement deprives her of the one main goal left to her: a gold medal at the world championships in Berlin next August. But she will not be leaving sport behind altogether. She becomes account manager at the sports marketing company run by her manager Bob Verbeeck, and she intends to play a role in bringing up a new generation of potential top athletes. When asked if she would ever consider a return to sport, Vandeven said, ‘Never say never, but the way I look at it now, the chance is extremely small.’

Hellebaut came to the fore in the high jump only in 2006 with a surprise win in the European championships against strong competition from Venelina Veneva and reigning champion Kajsa Bergqvist. She soon followed that victory with a jump of 2.0m at the Golden High Jump Gala in Brussels, and a 2.05m in the European indoor championships in Birmingham in 2007. In Beijing, she cleared 2.05m again at her first attempt, beating Blanca Vlašić, who took two attempts to clear the same height.

‘Finishing with the Olympic gold makes me happy,’ she told the assembled press. ‘After Beijing I had the feeling that next year wouldn’t be quite the same on a sporting level. Your drive decreases, and if you can’t give it 200%, you’re better off stopping.’

Belgium’s last Olympic athletics gold medallist, Gaston Roelants (Tokyo, 1964, 3,000m steeplechase) paid tribute to his successor. ‘I hope we don’t have to wait another 44 years for a new gold medal in athletics,’ he said.