6 top Belgian sports heroes of all time

It’s not all beer and chocolate. Belgium has also turned out some of the world’s greatest athletes. Even if you don’t know a football from tennis ball, here are six names in sports you need to know.

1. Eddy Merckx (1945)

Going pro in 1965, Merckx dominated the world of cycling throughout his 13-year career, winning both the Tour de France and the Giro d-Italia five times each. By the time he retired in 1978 at the age of 32, Merckx had won every major cycling event, including 11 Grand Tour victories.

His career has not been without controversy, however. Despite coming out as anti-doping in the sport, Merckx tested positive three times for doping in 1969, 1973 and 1974. Despite these, Merckx, known as “the Cannibal” for his ravenous hunger for winning, is still seen as the unequivocal king of cycling.

Today, he works as a race commentator on RTBF and owns his own line of prestigious road and track bicycles.

2. Justine Henin (1982)

A woman who Billie Jean King called “the best of her generation”, Henin (pictured) spent 108 weeks ranked at number one in women’s tennis from 2003 till her retirement in 2011.

After two years playing in junior leagues, in 2001, at 19 years old, Henin made it to the women’s finals at Wimbledon, eventually losing to Venus Williams. From 2003 to 2007, she secured herself seven Grand Slam titles: four times the French Open, two times the US Open and once the Australian Open.

In 2008, she shocked the tennis world by announcing her retirement despite currently being ranked as number 1. However, retirement did not suit the 26 year-old well, and she returned to the sport in 2010 for two seasons, before finally retiring in 2011 due to an elbow injury.

3. Kim Clijsters (1983)

Just one year the junior of Justine Henin, Clijsters’ career has run closely parallel to her compatriot, whom she has met on the court no less than 25 times and who she has beaten 13 times to Henin’s 12.

All together, Clijsters has won 41 titles from the Women’s Tennis Association as well as four Grand Slams, and has ranked number one in the world in both singles and doubles. In 20O7, she announced her retirement from tennis to focus on building a family, but returned to the sport from 2009 to 2012. In 2008, while on hiatus from tennis, Clijsters gave birth to her first child, Jada Elle.

In 2011, Clijsters was the fifth highest-paid female athlete of that year and Time magazine ranked her at number 11 on its list of 100 most influential people, a few steps behind U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and before Burmese democratic movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

4. Jean-Michel Saive (1969)

A different kind of tennis, Saive, a Liege native, reigns over the court as Belgium’s best-known table tennis player.

With both mother and father having played professional table tennis, by the age of 13, Saive was rank fourth in Belgium and was invited to join the national team. By 1985, he earned top place in the Belgian rankings, which he held till 2011.

During his long career, Saive as won over 130 championship titles, and in 2009, earned his 21st Belgian champion title. He was also ranked number one player in the world from 1994 to 1996.

5. Stefan Everts (1972)

When Stefan Everts began motocross racing in 1991 at the age of 17, he was following in his father four-time world championship winner Harry Everts’ footsteps. But by 19 years old, the younger Everts began to show that he would soon out pace his father’s fame when he became the youngest person ever to win a world championship.

During his 15-year career, Everts won more titles and Grand Prix victories than any other racer. By the time he retired in 2006, he had earned 10 world championship gold medals.

6. Michel Preud’homme (1959)

No Belgian sports list would be complete without at least one mention of football: enter Michel Preud’homme. Known for his incredible agility and lightening-fast reflexes, Preud’homme is still considered today to one of the world’s best goalkeepers and remains unrivalled in Belgium.

During his career, which lasted from 1977 to 1999, he competed in 58 matches on the Belgian national team, including two World Cups. In 1994, he was the first winner of the Yashin Award for best goalkeeper at that year’s World Cup.

Since his retirement, Preud’homme turned to coaching, both local and international teams. Today Preud’homme is head coach of Club Brugge.