Ivo Van Damme
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Ivo Van Damme (21 February 1954 – 29 December 1976) was a Belgian middle-distance runner.
Van Damme played football until he was 16, but then switched to athletics. His breakthrough came in 1973, when he placed fourth in the 800 m at the European Junior Championships.<ref>Biografie Ivo Van Damme. sport.be</ref>
He suffered from mononucleosis the following season, but returned strong beating Roger Moens's 1955 national 800 m record. The record stood for 48 years and was finally bettered by Eliott Crestan in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1976, he won the European indoor title over this distance, and was one of the favourites for a medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He eventually ended up second in both the 800 and 1500 m, finishing behind Alberto Juantorena and John Walker, respectively.<ref name=sr>Ivo Van Damme Template:Webarchive. sports-reference.com</ref>
These were his last successes, as Van Damme was killed in a car accident later that year while travelling home from Marseille in southern France.<ref name=sr/> He was to marry Rita Thijs in 1977.<ref name=Ivo /> Since 1977, a memorial competition has been held in Brussels to remember him, the Memorial Van Damme, which is now the championship final for selected disciplines of the Diamond League athletics tour.
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Template:Footer Olympic Medalists Belgium Athletics Men Template:Belgian Sportsperson of the Year Template:Belgian National Sports Merit Award Template:Golden Spike Belgium Template:Authority control
- 1954 births
- 1976 deaths
- Sportspeople from Dendermonde
- Belgian men middle-distance runners
- Olympic athletes for Belgium
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Road incident deaths in France
- Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for Belgium
- Olympic silver medalists in athletics
- Belgian Athletics Championships winners
- Deaths of competitors in the sport of athletics
- 20th-century Belgian sportsmen