Finally, Something Akin to a Solution in the Belgian Crisis

It's been a while since we last posted any news from Belgium, where a group of national team members recently left the national training center because they did not want to work under the new head coach, controversial Frenchman Yves Kieffer. The last thing we heard was that 8 rebels were training at Wevelgem (Aagje Vanwalleghem's club) under 3 of their former coaches, and that when Yves Kieffer and his wife Marjorie Heuls finally showed up in Ghent on January 15, only a handful of girls were there to meet them.


Belgian national champion Aagje Vanwalleghem
(Photo: Sing Lo/Comaneci Salto)

Now, finally, more news about the situation has emerged, and from a very reliable source, Sporza.

It seems the rebels' insistence on getting former head coach Gerrit Beltman reinstated has finally paid off, to some extent. Minister of Sport Bert Anciaux is making funds available for the reinstatement of Beltman, who will guide national champion Aagje Vanwalleghem and the other rebels at the Wevelgem club. The girls themselves will have to pay the wages of the other coaches to be employed at the club (presumably the same coaches who were previously fired from the Ghent center for sticking with Beltman). The girls' parents are looking for private sponsors to help them carry the financial burden of employing the coaches. Meanwhile, 6 other national team members will remain at the national training center in Ghent, where they will train under former French head coach Yves Kieffer and his wife Marjorie Heuls. One of the 6 girls remaining in Ghent is Gaëlle Mys, who represented Belgium in Beijing.

Els De Nil, the official representative of the parents whose daughters have moved to Wevelgem, explained the situation to Sporza.

"Two weeks ago, we, along with Aagje and Beltman, spoke to Minister Anciaux. The next day he spoke to the other party," said De Nil. "The Minister established that the 2 parties were irreconcilable, as there is a serious crisis of trust. So elite sports manager Ivo Van Aken proposed this setup, and on Sunday we agreed to it."

De Nil continued, "It was a difficult decision to make, as our children were building up social lives in Ghent. But there was too much injustice in the situation. Basically, what is happening at the moment constitutes a rift in the Flemish Gymnastics Federation. When we had our meeting with Van Aken, a member of the Federation admitted that they had made mistakes, but insisted that management would never step down. Our children have become the victims of a power struggle. But they are prepared to take the risks associated with the move to Wevelgem, to Aagje's club. The club is willing to help us out (financially). We are now looking for host families for the girls."

A happy ending for all parties involved? That remains to be seen. The Ministry of Sport will only pay Gerrit Beltman's wages; the other coaches will have to get their wages elsewhere. It is to be hoped that the 8 rebel girls will find sponsors to help them carry the financial burden. At a time when much more famous athletes than them are losing their sponsorship deals, that may be a tall order.

Rumor Has It...

Some interesting (but unverified) gossip taken from various message boards:

--- 2005 world champion Chellsie Memmel supposedly just had ankle surgery (again). Memmel reportedly told fans on her public Facebook profile that she had undergone surgery on the broken ankle that kept her from competing in the all-around in Beijing. She hopes to recover and resume training soon. We hope so for her.

--- It is rumored that 2007 American Worlds team member Ivana Hong, who recently left Al Fong's club amidst a bit of a media frenzy, started training at WOGA today. Hong is believed to be a member of Valeri Liukin's training group, alongside Nastia.


Ivana Hong (photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)

--- Finally, in the ongoing Belgian soap opera, it is rumored that only three gymnasts are currently training at the national training center in Ghent under former French head coach Yves Kieffer: 2008 Olympian Gaelle Mys and two talented juniors, Julie and Stephanie Croket (Julie made the vault final at the 2008 Junior Europeans). That means there are currently more coaches than gymnasts at the center, which is frankly bizarre. The remaining members of the national team are rumored to be training, under fired former national team coaches Rene Poutsma and Sofie Naert, in the town of Wevelgem. Does that sound like an explosive situation or what? We'll be interested to see how the Flemish Gymnastics Federation, Gymfed, responds to this latest turn of events.

Quick Update on the Belgian Crisis

We are still waiting for "official" news on the Belgian crisis. The Belgian media are keeping curiously mum on the situation. However, we did find this little nugget on Gymnet, courtesy of an anonymous Belgian poster. We don't know who the author of the post is, nor have we made any effort to find out (we are not investigative journalists; we merely report on the things we come across), but judging from the tone of the post, he/she is firmly in the Kieffer camp. The post confirms the names of some of the girls who are rebelling against the federation, and of some who are not. Here it is:

"I can confirm from a source 100 percent certain that Yves Kieffer and his wife did indeed sign up with Gymfed at the end of December, having previously turned down an initial proposition in early December. They finally accepted the job offer after two Ghent coaches (Sofie Naert and René Poutsma), who had gone on strike and encouraged the girls' parents to rebel after Gerrit was fired, were fired themselves. It seems that those two coaches were also the source of the incendiary articles on Yves published by the Belgian media, and that they categorically refused to work under him. They continued to demand Gerrit's return!

Now that they have been gotten rid of, the situation has become much more constructive and acceptable for Yves and his wife. They met the parents and the gymnasts on December 30th to evaluate the situation. Some gymnasts didn't show up (Marieke Herteleer, Renate Masschelin and Aagje obviously), but others were very optimistic, e.g. Gaelle Mys (all-around finalist at the 2008 Olympics) and Julie Croket (vault finalist at the 2008 Junior Europeans). Things will definitely return to order gradually. Fingers crossed!"


Up-and-coming Belgian star Marieke Herteleer (photo taken from Marieke's website)

So there you have it - inside news, from an unknown source. We'll keep an eye on the regular media for "official" confirmations.

Nine Gymnasts Go on Strike in Belgium

Things are getting ugly at the Ghent training center, which is the de-facto Belgian national training center. Nieuwsblad reports that nine gymnasts are refusing to train under the new head coach, Yves Kieffer. Here's the (short) article, followed by some comments.

Nine Gymnasts Are Refusing to Train After Gymfed "Blackmail Call"

Nine of the fourteen female gymnasts currently attending the Ghent School for Elite Athletes will not be allowed by their parents to resume training today, a decision related to the fact that head coach Gerrit Beltman was previously fired in favor of Frenchman Yves Kieffer. The gymnasts' parents have written a letter to Gymfed [the Flemish Gymnastics Federation], the Ministries of Education and Sport and two organizations representing athletes, stating, among other things: "Gymfed threatened to revoke the gymnasts' elite athlete status [which entitles them to funding and to attending the special athletes' school] if they didn't decide in favor of working with Kieffer by twelve o'clock yesterday. Without any kind of psychological support, you [Gymfed] are holding a knife to these girls' throats. This constitutes blackmail."


The parents also said in the letter that their children are so upset about the current situation that they are currently unable to decide on their future. Therefore, the girls will train on an individual basis for the time being.

It should be noted that whether or not an athlete is granted elite athlete status is not entirely up to Gymfed; it is a decision made by a committee which also encompasses the two organizations to which the parents also addressed their letter, plus the Ministry of Sport.

Meanwhile, Gymfed is denying that it is exerting pressure on the gymnasts. "At no point have we threatened to revoke anyone's elite athlete status. However, now that we're getting a new coach, we must make sure our system is effective."

Our analysis:

We're no longer sure what to make of the Belgian crisis. On the one hand, it's obvious that there is a problem, and it's bigger than the Gymfed President, Rik Dombrecht, would have others believe. (Dombrecht previously stated that "less than a handful, which is to say fewer than five" gymnasts had protested Kieffer's appointment, when in fact it seems two-thirds of them oppose the new arrangements.) On the other hand, we're wondering if the gymnasts and their parents know what they're doing. Training on an individual basis certainly isn't going to help the gymnasts in any way. Also, it seems a bit unreasonable to us that the girls are not giving the new coaches any chance whatsoever. Sure, Kieffer has an unpleasant reputation, but by all accounts, he is a good coach. He has definitely obtained some good results. Moreover, we have by now been informed that both of the Russian coaches appointed to the Ghent center to assist Kieffer and his wife, Valentina Soldentakova and Iouri Kiritchenko, speak some Dutch, so the linguistic situation at the center won't be as dire as Aagje Vanwalleghem has made it out to be, although it's true that there won't be any native or fluent Dutch speakers on the coaching staff.

Meanwhile, there is much speculation in the Belgian gymnastics world as to the identities of the nine protesters and the five gymnasts who will report for duty today. National champion Aagje Vanwalleghem is known to oppose Kieffer's appointment; she has more or less become the spokeswoman for the rebelling gymnasts. On the other hand, Gaelle Mys, who represented Belgium at the 2008 Olympics and has one of the coolest floor exercises in the world, is believed to be among the gymnasts who will resume training in Ghent today, mainly because her long-time coach, Valentina Soldentakova, is among the coaches appointed to assist Kieffer. In any case, it sounds like there will be five gymnasts vying for four coaches' attention, which must constitute the highest athlete-to-coach ratio in the world.


Aagje Vanwalleghem (photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox)

We're wondering what Yves Kieffer is making of the situation. We know Kieffer previously broke off negotiations with Gymfed because of the "hostile environment" and all the negative press he was getting. The environment definitely hasn't become any less hostile since then. We wonder if he will report for duty today.

Vanwalleghem Asks Flemish Federation President to Resign

The Belgian saga goes on. Just days before Christmas, national champion Aagje Vanwalleghem accused the Flemish Gymnastics Federation of ignoring its gymnasts' wishes on national TV, and asked the President of the Federation, Rik Dombrecht, to resign. Dombrecht responded by saying that his resigning from his position wouldn't solve any problems, and that Vanwalleghem's opinions didn't reflect those of the majority of Gymfed's gymnasts. As for us, we're baffled by what's going on in Belgium, and thinking that the good people at Gymfed need a bit of a reality check. They seem awfully ambitious, and not particularly interested in their gymnasts' well-being.

Allow us to explain.

Firstly, you should (and probably do) know that Belgium is intensely internally divided. The northern half of the country, Flanders, speaks Flemish (Dutch); the southern half of the country, Wallonia, speaks French. The two parts of the country don't get on particularly well. To illustrate this, they each have their own gymnastics federation. As far as we know, there is no Belgian Gymnastics Federation; just a Flemish federation, popularly known as Gymfed, and a Walloon one, the Federation Francophone de Gymnastique. Most of Belgium's top gymnasts are from Flanders. They train together in Ghent, where the team was steadily improving, earning praise for its attention to detail, until its head coach, Dutchman Gerrit Beltman, was fired - mainly, it seemed, because he felt the Federation was asking too much from its gymnasts. The remaining coaches and national champion Vanwalleghem clamored for his reinstatement until Gymfed got sick of it and fired the entire Ghent coaching staff, replacing it with two French coaches who don't speak a word of Dutch and two Russian coaches who have been in Belgium for some time but apparently aren't all that fluent in Dutch either. And all this in a part of Belgium which is fiercely Flemish, and involving gymnasts who are too young to have learned much French in school.


Aagje Vanwalleghem during her Sporza TV interview (photo: Sporza)

Needless to say, Aagje Vanwalleghem, who has been extremely vocal about her recent disagreements with Gymfed, spoke up about the situation. Two days ago she was interviewed by Flemish sports show Sporza. In the interview she added fuel to the conflict by demanding that the President of the Flemish Gymnastics Federation, Rik Dombrecht, step down, as he was obviously "destroying everything."

"If he really loves gymnastics, he should really resign," Vanwalleghem told Sporza.

Vanwalleghem wasn't merely speaking in her own interests. She's looking into a way to continue working with Gerrit Beltman on an individual basis (in Belgium, it would seem), and it seems Gymfed is actually supporting her in this. However, she spoke up on behalf of her younger teammates, many of whom, she says, are so frustrated with the current situation that they're considering quitting the sport. Vanwalleghem told Sporza many of the younger girls are considering not showing up for training when Yves Kieffer and his crew start work in January. However, they're in a precarious situation, because they are dependent on Gymfed, not just for their training but for their education. "They could say, 'No, we're not going to train [with Kieffer],' but they're still attending a Gymfed-funded school. So in a way they're being forced to go on training there."

21-year-old Vanwalleghem herself is lucky. She's old enough not to be dependent on Gymfed arrangements. She's a university student who is living with her boyfriend, a promising pole vaulter, and has her own sponsorship contract, independent of Gymfed. But she's concerned about her younger teammates. "The juniors don't want to work with coaches they don't know, least of all because the coaches they used to have were very good. They don't want to switch coaches. It's really bad, and nobody is listening to them." She went on to say that Gymfed was playing with many gymnasts' futures. "They wish to start building something from scratch, but why destroy something that was working well?"

One of the main reasons why Vanwalleghem and her younger teammates object to the four coaches newly appointed to the Ghent training center is because none of them is fluent in Dutch, Flanders' official language and the mother tongue of all the Flemish gymnasts. "So we're now getting a team of four coaches, none of whom speaks perfect Dutch. But when you're working with 12- and 13-year-old gymnasts, it's vital that you understand each other well. I don't understand why the Federation isn't taking this problem more seriously."

It seems to Vanwalleghem that the Federation doesn't overly care about good communication between coaches and athletes. "The Federation says: 'Gerrit Beltman isn't the only good coach out there. It doesn't matter with whom you work, does it?' But it's a matter of trust. Why fire coaches whom the girls know well and trust, and who were obtaining good results?"


Gerrit Beltman (photo: Belga)

Vanwalleghem is convinced that Gymfed's stance in the conflict has nothing to do with gymnastics, but has been prompted by honor and loss of face. "It's all about power. Beltman didn't get along with Gymfed's Board of Directors, so they fired him. The three other coaches supported him, so they fired them too."

For his part, Gymfed President Rik Dombrecht denies that Beltman was fired because he didn't get on with the Federation's officials. "Beltman failed to meet the targets we set at the beginning of the Olympic cycle. He's not denying that. And then he refused to accept our targets for the 2010 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics."

Dombrecht refused to specify what these targets were, but according to the Gymfed website, the Federation hopes that Yves Kieffer's appointment will help the Belgian women's team qualify for the 2012 Olympics. If that is indeed Gymfed's target, we can understand why Beltman didn't want to accept it. It seems an unrealistic goal for the promising but largely unproven Belgian squad to aspire to.

In his interview (which, along with Vanwalleghem's, can be found on the Sporza site), Dombrecht was quick to play down the threat of gymnasts protesting the loss of their coaches and rebelling against their newly appointed coaches. "I can't deny we're having a minor problem with a few gymnasts and their parents," Dombrecht said. "It's a very fanatical group, but it's small - less than a handful of gymnasts, which is to say fewer than five gymnasts. The majority of the gymnasts and parents do support us, and do want to work with Kieffer. They're just less vocal, less inclined to talk to the media."


Vanwalleghem in happier days (photo: Belga)

However, according to Vanwalleghem, many gymnasts are complaining. She says quite a few gymnasts (including some very talented juniors) are considering quitting the sport if they can't go on working with the team of coaches they know and trust. "They [the Federation] are destroying our 2010 team."

Confronted with that argument, Dombrecht said that actually, large numbers of retirements were another reason why Beltman was fired. "Over the last few years, while Beltman was in charge, we've lost over 30 gymnasts who had invested heavily into the sport, and into whom we had invested quite heavily ourselves. We want to turn that situation around, and we're convinced it will improve under Yves Kieffer."

And this is where the story gets weird. You see, according to Dombrecht, Kieffer was quick to identify the reason why so many Flemish gymnasts were quitting. "He immediately said they were training too hard and competing too often. This puts a lot of pressure on the girls, which is why they're quitting."

Pardon us, but isn't that exactly what Gerrit Beltman has been saying all along? Wasn't Beltman fired because he indicated that the girls were training too hard, had too many school hours and needed more time to rest between school and training? Didn't the other coaches at the Ghent training center agree with him? And haven't Aagje Vanwalleghem and other Flemish gymnasts been complaining for months (if not years) about the Gymfed-imposed work load at the Ghent academy? It's bizarre that Gymfed should fire Beltman and his team for wanting to give the girls more rest, only to accept a newcomer's assessment that the girls are working too hard. Particularly since that newcomer isn't exactly known for going easy on his girls himself. Even Yves Kieffer's supporters (such as Isabelle Severino) admit that he's a very demanding coach. Dombrecht admitted as much in the Sporza interview, but repeated that he believed fewer gymnasts would quit under Kieffer, and that the team's chances of success would be "many times greater" with Kieffer in charge.


Gaelle Mys, who represented Belgium at the 2008 Olympics (photo: Reuters)

Our take on the situation? We think Dombrecht and his cronies are suffering from mild delusions of grandeur. We applaud Gymfed for being ambitious, for wanting to take Belgium into the top-12, but frankly we think they're being a tad overambitious, and possibly blinded by dreams of success. Clearly their targets are unrealistic; that would explain why Beltman refused to accept them. Also, it seems the Federation is putting success before its gymnasts' well-being. We couldn't help noticing that the words "achievements" and "targets" popped up an awful lot of times in Dombrecht's interview. It seems to us that the Federation is determined to achieve success at any cost, without much regard for the gymnasts who are supposed to obtain those successes. They overworked their gymnasts for years, then fired four coaches who had the nerve to complain about this. And now they've appointed four coaches who don't even speak the gymnasts' own language. None of this strikes us as being indicative of great concern for the gymnasts' well-being. Success is great, but at what cost?

Undoubtedly to be continued.

Yves Kieffer to Coach Flemish Girls After All

A few weeks ago we reported on the coaching scandal that was brewing in Belgium. Quick recap for those of you who missed it: last September, the Flemish Gymnastics Federation, Gymfed, fired its Dutch head coach, Gerrit Beltman, for being too nice to the girls (he agreed with his gymnasts that they needed more time off from school and training), then invited controversial French coach Yves Kieffer (who coached Emilie Lepennec and Isabelle Severino to their respective Olympic and European titles) to take his position. In the end, their negotiations with Kieffer came to nothing because a pro-Beltman journalist started raking up mud on the former French head coach, who had been accused of mental cruelty by a couple of French gymnasts and been the subject of a large investigation by the FFG, the French Gymnastics Federation. After a quick investigation and a consultation with the FFG, Gymfed announced that it still wanted to work with Kieffer, but the flamboyant Frenchman himself declined the offer, citing a "hostile environment." Exit Kieffer, or so it seemed.


Yves Kieffer

Not so. Gymfed just announced that Kieffer will become their head coach after all. The three remaining coaches at the Ghent training center (Marja Beltman, Rene Poutsma and Sofie Naert, all of whom wanted Gerrit Beltman to be reinstated) have been sacked, and Kieffer and his wife Marjorie Heuls will take over in January, with two Russian coaches who have been in Belgium for a while, Iouri Kiritchenko and Valentina Soldatenkova (Gaelle Mys's coach). Gymfed hopes they will help the Belgian team qualify to the 2012 Olympics.

It is uncertain what national champion Aagje Vanwalleghem will do now that Kieffer has been appointed head coach of the Flemish team. Vanwalleghem previously stated in no uncertain terms that she did not want to work under Kieffer. There are those who believe that Vanwalleghem, who recently won the bronze on vault at the Madrid World Cup Final, will start training at Dutch club Bosan TON, where her former coach Gerrit Beltman (to whom she is very close) is coaching now and where she would be surrounded by the cream of Dutch gymnastics, but our sources tell us Gymfed is trying hard to keep Vanwalleghem in Belgium in some way or another. We'll be interested to see what solution they come up with.


Aagje Vanwalleghem

So Now Belgium Has a Coaching Scandal Too...

As some of you undoubtedly know, France had its own version of the Karolyi and Brazilian coaching scandals last year. The accusations were less bad, but the case still ended with the head coach of the national team resigning.

What happened was that 47-year-old Yves Kieffer, the man who coached Emilie Lepennec to the 2004 Olympic gold on bars and Isabelle Severino to the 2005 European title on floor, was accused of mental cruelty by a former gymnast, Cloe Briand, who told a French radio station that she lived in constant fear of Kieffer. "It was all too militaristic and cold," said Briand. "I was so afraid of his torrents of abuse that I'd vomit before workouts."


Yves Kieffer (photo: Action Press)

At the time, Isabelle Severino defended Kieffer, saying he was a hothead and a very demanding taskmaster but a good coach. For its part, the French Gymnastics Federation (FFG) conducted an extensive investigation, interviewing 90 gymnasts who had worked with Kieffer. Kieffer was accused of verbal excess, irregular behavior, and a dominant and arrogant attitude, and received an official warning from his employer, the French Ministry of Sport. A few months after the first accusations, he resigned as the French team's head coach, devoting himself to research instead. According to certain sources, he was fired and forbidden to coach children again.

Exit Kieffer, or so it seemed.

Over the last few weeks Kieffer has been in the news again, not in France but in neighboring Belgium. Belgium, you see, recently sacked its own women's head coach (Dutchman Gerrit Beltman, who used to coach 2001 World and 2002 European silver medalist on bars Renske Endel), not because of allegations of cruelty, but rather because of the opposite. Reportedly Beltman wanted his gymnasts to have more time off from training and school than the Flemish Federation, Gymfed, was prepared to give them. The dispute ended acrimoniously, and despite repeated protests from his co-workers and gymnasts Beltman was fired, leaving Belgium without a head coach.

Enter Kieffer.


Aagje Vanwalleghem (photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner)

A few weeks ago, officials of the Flemish Gymnastics Federation, seemingly oblivious of the the scandal surrounding Kieffer in France, contacted the flamboyant Frenchman to offer him the position of head coach of the Flemish team, which is led by Aagje Vanwalleghem (second on vault at the recent DTB Cup and second on vault and bars in Ostrava) and Gaelle Mys, who has one of the coolest floor exercises around. (If you haven't seen Mys on floor, do yourself a favor and check out her 2008 routine here. Best choreography of the year, we think.)

A Belgian gymnastics journalist who clearly sided with Beltman then took it on himself to inform the nation and Gymfed of the accusations against Kieffer. Gymfed President Rik Dombrecht was surprised when confronted with the particulars of his candidate's reputation. "I heard a complaint was filed with the Nantes court, but it was a complaint against the FFG, not against Mr. Kieffer. And last week the Nantes court actually acquitted the FFG of the charges. I wasn't aware there was an FFG report on Mr. Kieffer, nor that he was given an official warning. He never told me that."

As it happened, the Belgian journalist discovered, the FFG hadn't been acquitted. The Briand case hadn't been found inadmissible by the Nantes court, as Kieffer had stated, but transferred to another court, Saint-Nazaire. And the charges (unacceptable behavior and violence against minors) were leveled at Kieffer rather than at the FFG.

Most damning of all, it transpired that there was another court case against Kieffer. In Bordeaux another gymnast had sued Kieffer for unseemly behavior, and again, Gymfed wasn't aware of it.


Gaelle Mys, who represented Belgium at the Olympics (photo: AFP/Getty Images)

On December 1 Gymfed confirmed in a press release that it still wanted to work with Kieffer, saying that as far as the federation was concerned, the allegations about the court cases against Kieffer had been sufficiently refuted. However, the Frenchman had decided not to take the job, citing "a hostile environment" (by then national champion Aagje Vanwalleghem and a few coaches had indicated that they didn't want to work with him) and "the media's negative attitude" toward him.

The Gymfed press release also stated that an FFG legal expert had told Gymfed that the Nantes court had found in favor of Kieffer. Said the FFG: "It's a form of rehabilitation for a coach who received a simple warning that did not come with an injunction forbidding him to coach kids, as has been wrongfully alleged." Gymfed also stated that the FFG had told them that their internal report on Kieffer, based on interviews with 90 gymnasts, actually painted a positive picture of the coach.

Sounds like the door is open for Kieffer to return to the French team, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, Belgium is still without a head coach, and the situation is getting bad.

Over the last couple of weeks several high-ranking Belgian coaches have gone on strike in an effort to make Gymfed reinstate Gerrit Beltman, which Gymfed says it has no intention of doing. The gymnasts, too, are clamoring for Beltman's return. On November 22, Belgian newspaper Nieuwsblad published a two-page interview (reprinted here) with national champion Aagje Vanwalleghem. The headline read: "Can I please have my coach back?"

In the interview Vanwalleghem praised her former coach to the skies, saying: "He's a brilliant technician who knows exactly how to get you ready for a competition. He can take you from completely out of shape to Olympic peak shape in just three months. He has an excellent long-term plan and knows how to make sure that everybody has the same goals. Some people think he lacks people skills. Of all my teammates, I've been with him the longest. I've been with him since I was eleven, so it's been nearly ten years now. His people skills have improved tremendously over that period. He really is a coach now, encouraging you when things aren't going well and giving you a pat on the shoulder. He has even consulted a sports psychologist. Parents, gymnasts, coaches, judges, and Gymfed's medical staff don't understand why he was fired. I'm very disillusioned."


Aagje Vanwalleghem and Gerrit Beltman (photo: Belga)

Vanwalleghem, who missed the Beijing Olympics because of a knee injury but is back in the gym now and working on two new vaults to become even more competitive on the event, expressed a desire to go on competing until the 2012 Olympics, but said in no uncertain terms that she'd need Beltman to do so.

Meanwhile, Beltman has reportedly signed a nine-month contract with Bosan TON, which is well on its way to becoming Holland's new super club. He's said he'd like to return to Belgium, but so far, Gymfed has said that this is not an option. Perhaps the recent Kieffer affair will make them reconsider their stance.

Undoubtedly to be continued.