Belgium

Exciting sporting facts

"Children's Movement" in the 16th century
In 1560, the Dutch-born artist Pieter Brueghel painted his famous picture "Young Folk At Play (Children's Games)" in the city of Antwerp. The painting depicts 84(!) different children's games which get kids excited even today, such as leap frog, circular games, hoop games, stilt walking, hide and seek and many more.

Cycling frenzy
At the end of the 19th century, more and more working-class people were able to afford a bicycle and bike racing became a highly popular sport in the poorer regions of Flanders. Winning the prize money and maybe even a professional contract was seen as a great chance to escape the social misery. In 1894 the first world championships in "safety bicycle" racing - as opposed to the previously used "high-wheel bicycle" - were held in Antwerp. To everybody's great surprise, local cycling champion and favourite Jaap Eden lost out to his German competitor August Lehr, who had previously won titles with the "High Wheeler".
One of the great cycling legends of all time was Eddi Merckx, also known as "The Cannibal", who won everything there was to be won in the world of cycling. He won more big touring races than anyone else, including an astonishing 5 Tour de France titles between 1969 and 1974!

Record relay
On April 19th 1978, a team from the sports faculty of the University of Leuven ran 100 x 400 metres in 1 hour, 29 minutes and 11.8 seconds in a gigantic relay event.

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