Belgium's Olympic medal history 1900-2020
Belgium’s bronze team medal in eventing at the Olympic Games in Antwerp was mentioned in this article about Lara de Liederkerke-Meier’s five-star win at Luhmühlen CSI5*-L
So with start of the Paris Olympics now just 36 days away, how many medals have Belgium won in the history of the Games? Starting at Tokyo where the Belgian show jumping team of Pieter Devos (Claire Z), Jérôme Guery (Quel Homme de Hus) and Grégory Wathelet (Nevados S) won a bronze medal too. See the full Tokyo Olympics team show jumping results here
Back in 1976, it was another bronze medal for the Belgian team of Edgar-Henri Cuepper (Le Champion), François Mathy (Gai Luron), Stanny Van Paesschen (Porsche) and Eric Wauters (Gute Sitte). Mathy also appears on the individual medal winners table with his bronze medal with Gai Luron at the Montreal Games.
Antwerp was indeed a lucky home ground for the Belgian team in 1920 with the show jumping team also winning a medal. It was silver for André Coumans (Lisette), Herman de Gaiffier d’Hestroy (Miss), Herman d’Oultromont (Lord Kitchener) and Henri Laame (Biscuit).
At the same Games, Belgium won its only Olympic eventing team medal when Jules Bonvalet (Weppelghem), Oswald Lints (Martha), Jacques Misonne (Gaucho) and Roger Moeremans d’Emaüs) claimed the bronze.
Gold medals were also won by Belgium at Antwerp in the discontinued Olympic equestrian competitions of carriage driving and vaulting.
On the individual medal front in the early history of the Games, there was a silver medal for Emmanuel de Blommaert and Clonmore, (surely an Irish import!) at the pre-WWI Games in Stockholm (1912).
And at the very start of the Games, Belgium recorded its first individual medals at Paris in 1900, courtesy of Aimé Haegeman Benton II (gold) and Georges van der Poele and Windsor Squire (silver) in show jumping.
Which country leads the equestrian medals leaderboard? Read here
Belgium ranks 11th in the Olympic equestrian medals table with 14 medals credited to the Benelux country, that has teams qualified for all four sports in Paris.
Early Paris qualification was secured for the show jumping and Paralympic teams in 2022 at the Nations Cup final in Barcelona and Herning respectively. The Belgian dressage and eventing teams then qualified at the 2023 European championships.
So, will Belgium add more medals to its Olympics tally at Versailles? And who will be picked for Paris?
