With seven medals, Team Belgium did well at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. On Friday afternoon, the athletes were celebrated at the Grand-Place in Brussels. Several hundred came to Brussels to cheer on the athletes.
Shortly after 4 p.m., the medalists and the top eight athletes appeared on the balcony of City Hall. Among others, gold medalist Nina Druel—who won in gymnastics on the uneven bars—and the hockey men were in attendance. Druel described the past few weeks as “very overwhelming” but “a dream come true”. The 21-year-old Limburger takes another week off and then starts training again.
Bachir Abdi (marathon), Matthias Kass (judo) and the jump team (equestrian sports), who all won the bronze medal, can also enjoy on the balcony. He said third place left Abdi at the start with a “double feeling”. “But since I came back, I realized that I did something bad. I am really glad that I did not come back empty-handed.”
Among the absentees are road bike silver medalists Wout van Aert and Nafi Thiam, who won gold in the heptathlon in Tokyo, just as they did in Rio in 2016. 27-year-old Thiam will wrap up her season Friday night at Memorial Van Damme, as you will be taking action in the high jump, and you want to avoid time pressure.
Furthermore, Lotte Kubicki (fourth in road cycling), Martin van Riel (fourth in triathlon) and the men of the Belgian 3×3 basketball team (fourth) also did not attend. The 3×3 Lions – who were discredited because they may have staged mock tournaments to qualify for the games – will take part in a tournament in Canada this weekend with Antwerp 3×3.
Belgium won seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics and nineteen other Olympic diplomas. It was Belgium’s most successful game since 1924 in Paris.
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