The career and heartbreaking death of Olympic silver medallist Ivo Van Damme

Belgium has produced some world-class athletes throughout its history, and Ivo Van Damme is certainly one of them. The middle-distance runner rose to the top of his sport, but tragically passed away in the prime of his career, just a couple of months after excelling at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. This is the story of Ivo Van Damme, a man who left an indelible mark on world athletics.

Van Damme was born in 1954 in Dendermonde, per Belgian outlet Bruzz.

He began his sporting career playing football, before taking up athletics and, more specifically, running. He experimented with various distances, but found his calling in the 800m at 17, according to the official Diamond League website.

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In 1973, Van Damme showed the first glimpses of his enormous potential by finishing fourth at the European Junior Championships, setting a new Belgian junior record of 1:48.16.

The following year, his progress was halted somewhat when he contracted mononucleosis and had to take a temporary break from racing. But Van Damme would come back stronger.

Van Damme regained his form in 1975 and excelled at the European Indoor Championships in Katowice, where he won the silver medal in the 800m, per the official Diamond League website. That same year, he improved Belgian legend Roger Moens' national 800m record to 1:45.31.

In 1976, Van Damme improved his result from the previous year and was crowned European indoor champion in Munich. It was the perfect lead-up to the 1976 Olympic Games, which were to be held in Montreal.

As the Diamond League website reports, Van Damme "had tremendous confidence in himself and his physical abilities, which sometimes could pass for arrogance. In competition, Ivo was all business and gave away no gifts. While a true sportsman, he was known outside the athletic arena as sociable, friendly, and never shy of relating a joke or two." Belgian media outlet Knack once dubbed Van Damme 'the James Dean on spikes'.

Van Damme took that confidence with him to Montreal, where he managed to perform at his best in front of the world's eyes. In the 800m race, he raced to the Olympic silver medal, second only to Cuba's Alberto Juantorena, per World Athletics. Van Damme set a new Belgian record, while Juantorena broke the world record.

A couple of days later, Van Damme took another silver medal in the 1500m, where he was beaten by New Zealand's John Walker.

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According to The Guardian, Van Damme was a national hero in Belgium after his two Olympic silver medals. However, the athlete himself remained ambitious and had already set his sights on two gold medals in Moscow, where the 1980 Olympics would be held.

Van Damme, however, would not make it to those Olympics. Late December 1976, he was involved in a car accident in southern France, where he had been on a training camp, per the Diamond League website. He passed away at the age of just 22.

Belgium mourned its athletics star and paid tribute to him by naming Van Damme 'Belgian Sportsman of the Year 1976'. But the greatest tribute was yet to come.

In 1977, a group of journalists organised the first Memorial Van Damme, an athletics event held in Brussels in memory of the star.

Since then, the Memorial Van Damme has become one of the biggest sporting events in Belgium and is internationally recognised as one of the most important athletics events in the world, where some of the biggest stars compete and where many world records have been broken.

Big stars like Usain Bolt competed at the event in the past, only showing that Van Damme's legacy and legend still lives on.

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