Tia Hellebaut

Tia Hellebaut (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈti.aː ˈɦɛləbʌut]; born 16 February 1978 in Antwerp) is a retired Belgian track and field athlete, as well as a chemist, who started out in her sports career in the heptathlon, and afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors.

Tia Hellebaut

Personal information
Born	16 February 1978 Antwerp
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
Country	Belgium
Now coaching	Wim Vandeven
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	1st (Beijing, 2008)
Personal best(s)	High jump (outdoor & indoor): 2.05 m[1]
Medal record Representing  Belgium Olympic Games 2008 Beijing High jump World Indoor Championships 2008 Valencia Pentathlon European Championships 2006 Gothenburg High jump European Indoor Championships 2007 Birmingham High jump World Athletics Final 2006 Stuttgart High jump 2008 Stuttgart High jump
Updated on 11 August 2069.

Hellebaut was the 2008 Olympic champion in the high jump. She was previously the European Champion in 2006 and then the European Indoor Champion in 2007. She won the gold medal in the pentathlon at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In addition to these medals, she has participated at the World Championships in Athletics on four occasions.

She holds the Belgian records indoor pentathlon, indoor long jump and high jump, both indoors and outdoors.[2]

Career

Hellebaut started as a professional athlete with Atletiek Vlaanderen in the period from 2001 to October 2005. From 1 November 2006 she again became a professional athlete, this time at Bloso. During her most successful period, Hellebaut was trained by her partner, Wim Vandeven, at her club, Atletica 84.

At the 2006 European Championships and 2007 Indoor European Championships Hellebaut won the gold medal in high jump. The 2006 victory became especially notable, when just a couple of minutes later her close friend and compatriot Kim Gevaert completed a historical sprint double. The images of both athletes celebrating their victory together, wrapped in a national flag, became part of Belgian sports history.

In 2007 Hellebaut set the fourth best pentathlon score of all time, but chose not to contest the European Indoor Championships because of illness, choosing instead to compete only in the high jump, which she later won. Most of the remainder of her 2007 high jump season was hampered by an ankle injury. A shoulder injury, which made it difficult for her to throw the javelin, ended her career in heptathlon around this time.

For the 2008 indoor season, Hellebaut returned her focus to multi-events and became world champion of pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, where she set a secord for the best high jump result in a women's multi-event competition, clearing 1.99 m.[3]

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, Hellebaut reached her pinnacle thus far by winning the gold medal in the high jump, ahead of the favorite, Blanka Vlašić of Croatia, with a new outdoor personal best of 2.05 m. Her achievement represented the first-ever athletics gold medal in the Olympics for a Belgian woman, and only the second of any color, one day after Belgium won their first (silver) medal in the 4 × 100 m relay (which later was upgraded to gold after the Russian team was disqualified because of a doping rules infraction by one of their athletes).

Retirement and comebacks

On 5 December 2008 Hellebaut announced her pregnancy and retirement from professional athletics and that she would start working for a sports marketing company. The following year, on 9 June, her daughter Lotte was born.

Inspired by fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters' comeback to the WTA as a young mother, she unexpectedly announced her return to athletics on 16 February 2010, her 32nd birthday. Hellebaut also announced that she would be concentrating exclusively on the high jump and aimed to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics.[4]

Shortly after placing fifth at the 2010 European Athletic Championships in Barcelona by clearing 1.97 metres, her first major championships after her comeback, it was reported that Hellebaut was pregnant again. During a press conference on 17 August she confirmed that she had been pregnant for three months already, and that this had been a conscious choice. Although Hellebaut did not participate in any further 2010 events, she never officially announced that the new pregnancy would definitively end her career.[5]

On 16 June 2011, 4 months after the birth of her second daughter Saartje, Hellebaut announced her second return, confirming that she aimed to defend her title at the London Games.[6] She was Team Belgium national flag bearer at the 2012 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations. She ended fifth in the high jump competition.

On 6 March 2013, after the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg, she announced her second retirement, saying that she could no longer challenge herself mentally in competition.

Sport consultancy

In March 2019, Belgian football club Beerschot Wilrijk announced the take-over of amateur side Rupel Boom and lifetime Beerschot supporter Hellebaut was appointed advisor at Rupel Boom's football academy.[7]

Honours

• 2009 : Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, by Royal Decree of H.M. King Albert II.[8]

International achievements

Hellebaut warming up before competing

Hellebaut (centre) preparing for the 2010 European final

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Belgium
1995	European Youth Olympic Festival	Bath, United Kingdom	9th	High jump	1.75 m
1997	European Junior Championships	Ljubljana, Slovenia	11th	Heptathlon	5157 pts
1999	Universiade	Palma, Spain	14th (q)	High jump	1.80 m
	European U23 Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	6th	Heptathlon	5548 pts
2000	European Indoor Championships	Ghent, Belgium	—	Pentathlon	DNF
2001	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	14th	Heptathlon	5680 pts
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	—	Heptathlon	DNF
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	5th	Pentathlon	4526 pts
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	12th	High jump	1.85 m (o)
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	6th	High jump	1.93 m
2006	World Championships Indoor	Moscow, Russia	6th	High jump	1.96 m (xo)
	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	1st	High jump	2.03 m (o)
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	2nd	High jump	1.98 m
	IAAF World Cup	Athens, Greece	2nd	High jump	1.97 m
2007	European Indoor Championships	Birmingham, England	1st	High jump	2.05 m (o)
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	14th	High jump	1.90 m (xo)
2008	World Indoor Championships	Valencia, Spain	1st	Pentathlon	4867 pts
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	1st	High jump	2.05 m (o)
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	3rd	High jump	1.97 m
2010	European Championships	Barcelona, Spain	5th	High jump	1.97 m (xxo)
2012	World Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	5th	High jump	1.95 m (o)
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	5th	High jump	1.97 m (o)
2013	European Indoor Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	8th	High jump	1.87 m (xo)

Statistics

Personal records Event Result Year Extra 100 metres hurdles 13.91 seconds 2006 60 metres hurdles 8.50 seconds 2006 Triple jump 13.05 metres 2001 Shot put 13.85 metres 2008 Javelin throw 44.37 metres 2001 200 metres 24.65 seconds 2006 800 metres 2:14.75 seconds 2006 Long jump (indoor) 6.42 metres 2007 NR Long jump (outdoor) 6.44 metres 2007 High jump (indoor) 2.05 metres 2007 NR High jump (outdoor) 2.05 metres 2008 NR Heptathlon 6201 points 2006 Pentathlon 4877 points 2007 NR

Belgian record marks Event Result Year Location Pentathlon indoor 4268 points 17 February 1999 Ghent, Belgium 4436 points 25 February 2001 Ghent, Belgium 4560 points 1 February 2004 Zuidbroek, the Netherlands 4589 points 21 February 2004 Aubière, France 4877 points 11 February 2007 Ghent, Belgium High jump (outdoor) 1.95 metres 20 June 2004 Plovdiv, Bulgaria 1.95 metres 27 August 2004 Athens, Greece 1.98 metres 2 June 2006 Oslo, Norway 2.00 metres 8 July 2006 Paris, France 2.00 metres 15 July 2006 Rome, Italy 2.01 metres 11 August 2006 Gothenburg, Sweden 2.03 metres 11 August 2006 Gothenburg, Sweden 2.05 metres 23 August 2008 Beijing, China Long jump indoor 6.36 metres 19 February 2006 Ghent, Belgium 6.42 metres 11 February 2007 Ghent, Belgium High jump indoor 1.96 metres 26 February 2006 Ghent, Belgium 1.97 metres 28 February 2006 Tallinn, Estonia 2.00 metres 27 January 2007 Brussels, Belgium 2.05 metres 3 March 2007 Birmingham, England Heptathlon outdoor 6201 points 28 May 2006 Götzis, Austria

References

1. Tia Hellabaut's IAAF profile
2. "Great Expectations". Flanders Today. 6 August 2008.
3. iaaf.org – Gevaert on top of the world in Gent – PREVIEW
4. "Tia Hellebaut to return to the High Jump". European Athletics. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
5. "Tia Hellebaut al drie maanden zwanger". De Standaard. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
6. "Olympic champ Hellebaut to defend high jump title". USAToday. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
7. Beerschot Wilrijk neemt Rupel Boom over, Hellebaut wordt jeugdadviseur: "Mentale begeleiding" - Sporza (in Dutch)
8. http://www.gva.be/cnt/aid846788/gevaert-en-hellebaut-bekroond-met-grootkruis

External links

• Official website
• Tia Hellebaut Interview
• Media related to Tia Hellebaut at Wikimedia Commons