Swedish night turns Belgium with golds from Gevaert,Hellebaud

By John Bagratuni Aug 11, 2006, 21:31 GMT

Belgian gold medal winners Tia Hellebaut (L, high jump) and Kim Gevaert (R, 200m) celebrate with the Belgian national flag at the European Athletics Championships 2006 in Gothenburg, Friday 11 August 2006. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Gothenburg, Sweden - Kim Gevaert completed a women's sprint double at the European championships with a 200m victory and Tia Hellebaud got a stunning high jump title for two Belgian wins on what was originally to be the biggest night for hosts Sweden.

World champion Kajsa Bergqvist was crestfallen after having to settle for third place in the high jump, but there was at least some joy for the Sweden when Susanna Kallur won the 100m hurdles.

Jukka Keskisalo was a surprise winner in the men's 3,000m steeplechase and Czech decathlon world record holder Roman Sebrle got back-to-back decathlon titles.

But is was Belgians who ruled the night with two titles within five minutes, bringing their Gothenburg tally to three golds after the nation had won only two in all previous 18 championships since 1934.

'Three gold medals are just wonderful for a small country,' said Gevaert.

'It's like a dream: I made the double. Before the start I was watching the high jump and screamed when my friend Tia won the gold. Seeing her gave me so much motivation two minutes before my own start.'

Hellebaud, for her part, rushed to the finish line to embrace Gevaert when she completed her sprint double in 22.68 seconds.

The 100m winner Gevaert ran away from Yuliya Gushkina on the home stretch, with Gushkina second on 22.93 and fellow-Russian Natalya Rusakova third on 23.09 seconds in cool and damp conditions after a mid-day thunderstorm.

While Gevaert's win was no surprise, Hellebaud was considered not more than a contender for a minor medal on what was to be Bergqvist's big night in front of a stadium packed to its 33,000-capacity.

Bergqvist seemed well in command, soaring every height including 2.01m on her first attempt. But Hellebaud, Bulgaria's Venelina Veneva and Blanka Vlasic of Croatia also made this height while Olympic champion Yelene Slesarenko bowed out with 1.99m.

Bergqvist, whose season-best is a world leading 2.05m, then missed on her first jump over 2.03m, while Hellebaud - also acting as cheerleader when the Swede was jumping - made it on her first attept to raise her previous personal best of 2.00m a second time for the lead.

Veneva got 2.03m on her second attempt while Bergqvist passed. The Swede was almost awarded for her risk but had two very close misses over 2.05m which gave her the bronze behind Hellebaud and Veneva - sharing the fate of Stefan Holm on the men's side.

'I still can't believe what is going on here. I wanted to get a medal and a national record. Now I have the gold and 2.03,' said Hellebaud.

'Before the competition I just thought 'go out there and enjoy yourself with this great crowd.' I knew there would be an amazing atmosphere because of Kajsa. I feel a little sorry for her as she 'only' got the bronze.'

Bergqvist said: 'I am really disappointed. I came to win, but I didn't. I am sad. The girls jumped higher tonight and better than me.'

Earlier, Kallur won the 100m hurdles in 12.59 seconds for Sweden's first continental title over the distance. Derval O'Rourke clocked a national record for Ireland when she won a photo-finish for second place with Kirsten Bolm of Germany, both timed on 12.72 seconds.

Both got silver after the Germans protested against Bolm's being originally awarded a bronze medal finish.

'This is just unbelievable. After I crossed the line I heard all these fantastic people screaming. I felt the crowd. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life,' said Kallur.

It was Sweden's second title of the week, following Carolina Kluft's heptathlon success on Tuesday.

Keskisalo got Finland's first ever steeplechase title in 8:24.89 minutes. He took the lead on the final back straight to beat fancied Spaniard Jose Louis Blanco (8:26.22) and Bouabdellah Tahri of France (8:27.15).

'This is a big surprise for me. But I knew I had a chance with this slow pace. Here I had a chance to win, not like at the Olympics and world championships,' he said in reference to the global stage dominated by Kenyans, Qataris and others.

The Olympic champion Sebrle won the decathlon with 8,526 points - exactly 500 points below his world record 9,026 points, due to the difficult conditions. Attila Zsivoczky was second for Hungary with 8,356 points and Russian Aleksey Drozdov third with 8,350.

The day's programme was reduced from six to five finals when the men's hammer throw was moved to Saturday because it had to give way to the decathlon hit by a two-hour delay of the pole vault portion due to the thunderstorm.

That brings the number of Saturday's finals to nine, the others being the men's 110m hurdles, discus and triple jump, plus the woman's 5,000m, marathon, 3,000m steeplechase, pole vault and shot put.