Sportsgala 2011 report
Day 1,490, 07:45
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Published in Belgium 
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by
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by Cooke4444
2011 is almost over. The best Belgian athletes were celebrated yesterday
What did we learn from this year's sportsgala?
- Kenny Belaey does crazy things with his bicycle
- Everybody is ready for the Olympic Games next year.
- The World Championships rugby were the most important event this year.
The results
Winners in bold letters.
Coach of the year
Francky Vercauteren (won the Belgian football league with KRC Genk)
Jacques Borlée (trains the 4X400m team and father of Olivia, Kevin and Jonathan)
John Lelangue (team leader of BMC cycling team)
Paralympic athlete of the year
Wim Decleir (second in World Championships cycling)
Youngster of the year
Thomas van der Plaetsen (5th on EC indoor and 13th on WC Daegu in decathlon)
Junior Bauwens (came in the top list of boxing in Europe)
Nichola Phillipaerts (hot prospect in jumping)
Team of the year
-18 basketball team girls (won EC)
4X400m team (3th EC and 5th WC)
Male hockeyteam (top 8 of the world)
Female athlete of the years
Ann Wauters (after giving birth, back the leader of the Valencian basketball team)
Evi van Acker (won EC and 2nd WC sailing)
Kim Clijsters (won Australian Open)
Male athlete of the year
Jonathan Borlée (5th on WC 400m and in team 4X400m)
Kevin Borlée (3rd on WC and in team 4X400m)
Philippe Gilbert (No. 1 of the world in cycling)
Opinion
For the first time, the coach of the year was announced. I don't believe it's right to put Francky Vercauteren in the shortlist, as almost every year a Belgian coach wins the title and he chose for the money instead of his team (went from Genk to Al Jazeera). Borlée deserved this award, but don't forget: Lelangue kept Cadel Evans cool in this year's tour, which no man has ever achieved.
Fair prizes for van der Plaetsen and Wim Decleir.
The team must have been hard to choose. The performance of the hockey team is very impressive, but they are "only" 8th in the world, while the 4X400m team became 5th. And certainly don't forget the performance of the basketball girls.
First I'ld like to talk about the men. Fair win, as Gilbert almost won everything, and also the shortlist was fair. No problems there.
But the women's election filled me with rage. Not only because Ann Wauters was in the list (yes, she's the best in her team, but Anke De Mondt deserved it a lot more. And it's once again this award she doesn't win for the 5th time), but it's not fair Kim Clijsters won once again (8th time?!). She achieved a lot in her career, and it's certainly not my intention to spread hate, because I like her playing style, but she only won 2 tournament, both in the beginning of the season, and only 1 important one (where there are 5 tournaments of equal prestige). While Evi van Acker has had twice a medal on a championship, in a different period, so she was able to keep her level, while Kim Clijsters was injured for 3/4 of the season.
To explain some shortlist choices and one winner (sorry Kim), we should take a look to the election procedure. Only sports journalists and ex-winners may choose. Tennis is a more common sport in Belgium, so there are more journalists up-to-date of these performances, so are the ex-winners. It seems incredibly tough to get elected if you are world class in a sport which isn't popular here (like sailing, rugby, badminton,...) and you don't have a real "image" in the media. I think it's necessary to only give an election sheet to one or max. 2 journalists of one sport, to give a complete and fair result.
What did we learn from this year's sportsgala?
- Kenny Belaey does crazy things with his bicycle
- Everybody is ready for the Olympic Games next year.
- The World Championships rugby were the most important event this year.
The results
Winners in bold letters.
Coach of the year
Francky Vercauteren (won the Belgian football league with KRC Genk)
Jacques Borlée (trains the 4X400m team and father of Olivia, Kevin and Jonathan)
John Lelangue (team leader of BMC cycling team)
Paralympic athlete of the year
Wim Decleir (second in World Championships cycling)
Youngster of the year
Thomas van der Plaetsen (5th on EC indoor and 13th on WC Daegu in decathlon)
Junior Bauwens (came in the top list of boxing in Europe)
Nichola Phillipaerts (hot prospect in jumping)
Team of the year
-18 basketball team girls (won EC)
4X400m team (3th EC and 5th WC)
Male hockeyteam (top 8 of the world)
Female athlete of the years
Ann Wauters (after giving birth, back the leader of the Valencian basketball team)
Evi van Acker (won EC and 2nd WC sailing)
Kim Clijsters (won Australian Open)
Male athlete of the year
Jonathan Borlée (5th on WC 400m and in team 4X400m)
Kevin Borlée (3rd on WC and in team 4X400m)
Philippe Gilbert (No. 1 of the world in cycling)
Opinion
For the first time, the coach of the year was announced. I don't believe it's right to put Francky Vercauteren in the shortlist, as almost every year a Belgian coach wins the title and he chose for the money instead of his team (went from Genk to Al Jazeera). Borlée deserved this award, but don't forget: Lelangue kept Cadel Evans cool in this year's tour, which no man has ever achieved.
Fair prizes for van der Plaetsen and Wim Decleir.
The team must have been hard to choose. The performance of the hockey team is very impressive, but they are "only" 8th in the world, while the 4X400m team became 5th. And certainly don't forget the performance of the basketball girls.
First I'ld like to talk about the men. Fair win, as Gilbert almost won everything, and also the shortlist was fair. No problems there.
But the women's election filled me with rage. Not only because Ann Wauters was in the list (yes, she's the best in her team, but Anke De Mondt deserved it a lot more. And it's once again this award she doesn't win for the 5th time), but it's not fair Kim Clijsters won once again (8th time?!). She achieved a lot in her career, and it's certainly not my intention to spread hate, because I like her playing style, but she only won 2 tournament, both in the beginning of the season, and only 1 important one (where there are 5 tournaments of equal prestige). While Evi van Acker has had twice a medal on a championship, in a different period, so she was able to keep her level, while Kim Clijsters was injured for 3/4 of the season.
To explain some shortlist choices and one winner (sorry Kim), we should take a look to the election procedure. Only sports journalists and ex-winners may choose. Tennis is a more common sport in Belgium, so there are more journalists up-to-date of these performances, so are the ex-winners. It seems incredibly tough to get elected if you are world class in a sport which isn't popular here (like sailing, rugby, badminton,...) and you don't have a real "image" in the media. I think it's necessary to only give an election sheet to one or max. 2 journalists of one sport, to give a complete and fair result.
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Comments
i share your opinion: clijsters won 1 grand slam, but evi van acker won the european championship and was second on the World Championship, she should have won yesterdayevening.