 Hellebaut in 2012 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1978-02-16)16 February 1978 (age 47)[1] |
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] |
| Weight | 62 kg (137 lb)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Belgium |
| Now coaching | Wim Vandeven |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Olympic finals | 1st (Beijing, 2008) |
| Personalbest(s) | High jump (outdoor & indoor): 2.05 m[2] |
| Updated on 28 July 2022 | |
Tia Hellebaut (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈtijaːˈɦɛləbʌut]; born 16 February 1978) is a Belgian formertrack and field athlete. She started out in her sports career in theheptathlon, and afterwards specialized in thehigh jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors.
Hellebaut was the 2008Olympic champion in the high jump. She was previously the European Champion in 2006 and then the European Indoor Champion in 2007. She won thegold medal in thepentathlon at the2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. In addition to these medals, she has participated at theWorld Championships in Athletics on four occasions.
She held theBelgian records indoorlong jump and indoorpentathlon until they were broken byNafissatou Thiam and still holds theBelgian record in both indoors and outdoorshigh jump.[3]
Hellebaut worked as achemist from 1996 to 1999. She started her career as a professional athlete with Atletiek Vlaanderen from 2001 to October 2005. From 1 November 2006 she again became a professional athlete, this time atBloso. During her most successful period, Hellebaut was trained by her partner, Wim Vandeven, at her club, Atletica 84.
At the2006 European Championships and2007 Indoor European Championships Hellebaut won the gold medal in high jump. The 2006 victory became especially notable, when just a couple of minutes later her close friend and compatriotKim Gevaert completed a historicalsprint double. The images of both athletes celebrating their victory together, wrapped in a national flag, became part of Belgian sports history.
In 2007 Hellebaut set the then fourth best pentathlon score of all time,[4] but chose not to contest theEuropean Indoor Championships because of illness, choosing instead to compete only in the high jump, which she later won. Most of the remainder of her 2007 high jump season was hampered by an ankle injury. A shoulder injury, which made it difficult for her to throw thejavelin, ended her career in heptathlon around this time.
For the 2008 indoor season, Hellebaut returned her focus to multi-events and became world champion of pentathlon at theWorld Indoor Championships inValencia, where she set a record for the best high jump result in a women's multi-event competition, clearing 1.99 m.[5]
At the2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, Hellebaut reached her pinnacle thus far by winning the gold medal in the high jump, ahead of the favorite,Blanka Vlašić ofCroatia, with a new outdoor personal best of 2.05 m. Her achievement represented the first-ever athletics gold medal in the Olympics for a Belgian woman, and only the second of any color, one day after Belgium won their first (silver) medal in the4 × 100 m relay (which later was upgraded to gold after the Russian team was disqualified because of a doping rules infraction by one of their athletes).
On 5 December 2008 Hellebaut announced her pregnancy and retirement from professional athletics and that she would start working for a sports marketing company. The following year, on 9 June, her daughter Lotte was born.
Inspired by fellow BelgianKim Clijsters' comeback to theWTA as a young mother, she unexpectedly announced her return to athletics on 16 February 2010, her 32nd birthday. Hellebaut also announced that she would be concentrating exclusively on the high jump and aimed to participate in the2012 Summer Olympics.[6]
Shortly after placing fifth at the2010 European Athletic Championships inBarcelona by clearing 1.97 metres, her first major championships after her comeback, it was reported that Hellebaut was pregnant again. During a press conference on 17 August she confirmed that she had been pregnant for three months already, and that this had been a conscious choice. Although Hellebaut did not participate in any further 2010 events, she never officially announced that the new pregnancy would definitively end her career.[7]
On 16 June 2011, 4 months after the birth of her second daughter Saartje, Hellebaut announced her second return, confirming that she aimed to defend her title at the London Games.[8] She was Team Belgium nationalflag bearer at the2012 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations. She ended fifth in thehigh jump competition.
On 6 March 2013, after theEuropean Indoor Championships in Gothenburg, she announced her second retirement, saying that she could no longer challenge herself mentally in competition.[citation needed]
In March 2019, Belgian football clubBeerschot Wilrijk announced the take-over of amateur sideRupel Boom and lifetime Beerschot supporter Hellebaut was appointed advisor at Rupel Boom's football academy.[9]
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Media related toTia Hellebaut at Wikimedia Commons| Olympic Games | ||
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| Preceded by | Flagbearer for Belgium London 2012 | Succeeded by |
 Belgium at the Olympics – Post-war Belgian Olympic champions (women) | |
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European Athletics Championships champions in women'shigh jump | |
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