A Flemish athlete on the podium is a long shot, especially when Pieter Gysel failed to reach the final of the 1,500-metre short track skating event. Leuven-born Gysel, 29, was Belgium’s biggest medal hope and had the second-best time in the heats, but trailed in ninth in the semi-final. He is now focusing his attention on two other races, the 500m and the 1,000m.

But there are seven other Belgian athletes in Vancouver, four of them from Flanders. They include Elfje Willemsen and Eva Willemarck in the women’s bobsleigh and Jeroen Van den Bogaert and Bart Mollin in the men’s slalom. This year’s Belgian flag bearer is 2009 European Figure Skating bronze medallist Kevin Van der Perren.

The last Belgian or Flemish winter Olympic medal was the bronze for Bart Veldkamp for 5,000m speed skating in the 1998 Nagano games.