Anyone who watched cycling on television between 2016 and 2020 often saw a rider with a striking gold helmet in the peloton. The wearer of that unique headgear was the Flemish cyclist Greg Van Avermaet. He had earned it through an exceptional performance: at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, he won the road race. For Van Avermaet, his gold medal is a highlight of his career. His impressive list of achievements also includes Paris-Roubaix and several second-place finishes in the Tour of Flanders.
The Olympic Games in Rio were very successful for the Belgians, with two gold, two silver, and two bronze medals. The fact that one of those coveted gold medals was won by a cyclist was more than just a coincidence.
Cycling is the discipline in which Belgians have had the most success at the Olympics. This has been the case ever since they first competed in the then-fledgling sporting event, in Paris in 1900.
To date, Belgians have won 32 Olympic cycling medals. Van Avermaet was only the second Belgian ever to take home the gold medal in the road race. Only André Noyelle, from Ypres, had done so before him, in 1952. In 2024 in Paris, Belgium struck gold again when a formidable Remco Evenepoel won gold in both the road race and the time trial.
Belgian athletes also excelled in other cycling disciplines. For example, Patrick Sercu won the gold medal in the time trial at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Much earlier, at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, Henry George triumphed on the velodrome.
The reason for all that Olympic success is obvious. Road cycling is incredibly popular in Belgium, especially in Flanders. Since the 1900s, Flemish riders have dominated the international cycling scene. And within the region itself, the sport was widespread: in every town, you could find a cycling club, a local cycling hero, and an annual fairground race.
This story was created by Geheugen Collectief for FAAM – Virtual Museum.
Ferre Vandenbussche
Anna Durnez
