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HELLEBAUT - BEITIA, THE ROAD TO BARCELONA BEGINS IN MADRID
[July, 1st] The Madrid 2010Athletics Meeting will be one of high quality and in particular the women's high jump will be one of the main events at the Moratalaz Municipal Sports Complex on Friday, due above all to the presence of two women, the Olympic and European champion in the event, the Belgian Tia Hellebaut, and the Spanish record holder and World indoor silver medallist this winter in Doha, Ruth Beitia. Both met up this morning in Madrid and were able to view the city from the 17th floor of one of the Kio Towers in the Plaza de Castilla with the kind permission of the Gómez-Acebo and Pombo law firm. A very "sporty" office in which Carlota Castrejana (who still holds the Spanish triple jump record) worked before being appointed Director General of Sports for the Madrid Regional Government.
From that great height both looked hopefully towards the horizon with tomorrow's event in mind and the European Championships that to be held in Barcelona in less than a month. For Hellebaut it will be her first competition after almost two years away from the track giving birth to her child. Nevertheless she goes into the meeting with high expectations: "I never thought that I would compete again but when my daughter Lotte was three or four months old I thought that I had to do something to lose the weight that I had put on during the pregnancy. After seeing several Belgian tennis players come back after a similar experience to mine I thought that it would also be possible for me. I love athletics, it has always been my passion and I don't want to travel to the Olympic Games in London 2012 to sit in the stands, I prefer to see them from the track. Initially my objective was to come back to competition in 2011 but I have felt very good and I have brought my return forward to this year."
Obviously the Madrid Meeting is the first step in the defence of her European title in Barcelona: "I thought that it would be impossible to compete in Barcelona but I feel that I am in good form and therefore I will be there and I do not rule out anything." One of the main rivals Hellebaut will come up against in Barcelona is Ruth Beitia, who eyes the European Championships with optimism and in good form: "from a physical point of view I feel very good; in the last few weeks I have had a little problem with my run up but I think it has been sorted out and in Barcelona I will give it my best shot." She added: "I hope at last to win a major medal outdoors. I have won medals indoors at European and World Championships, with my first major medal coming at the European Indoor Championships in Madrid 2005, and I hope that in Barcelona, in front of my home crowd again, I will also be able to enjoy my first great outdoor success."
Besides being the reigning European champion Hellebaut is also the current Olympic champion, which without doubt has been the highlight of her career. When asked about Beijing the Belgian smiles and says that "curiously when I think of what happened there my best memories are those after the competition, when I celebrated with all of my family and the people I love the most." Meanwhile Beitia achieved her greatest international success this winter when winning the silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in Doha (Qatar) in a competition which she felt "was very strange because it was perhaps my worst competition of the winter with several failures at the early heights but which finished very positively as I cleared 1.98m on my first attempt to guarantee the silver medal. And besides I managed it at the age of 30 which means Ruth will be around for a while..." (smiling).
Finally both are full of praise for each other and the good relationship between them is noticeable. According to Hellebaut "Ruth is very enthusiastic, open and friendly. She is always in a good mood and it is great to have her as a fellow competitor. She is easy to talk to at any time and even more so now as her English has improved a lot." The Spaniard highlights the same qualities of the Olympic champion: "as a person and athlete she is exceptional and coming to the high jump from the combined events has brought a breath of fresh air to the event and a much more friendly image. Perhaps she has brought with her the camaraderie which is always characterized in the combined events." Both will share this enthusiasm and companionship tomorrow evening at the Moratalaz Municipal Sports Complex.
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