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.[2]
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.[3] 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.[4]
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.[4] He was to marry Rita Thijs in 1977.[1] 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.
References
^ ab"À 22 ans, Ivo est entré dans l'Olympe". Le Soir. 30 August 2006.
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