Belgium shot put and hammer throw champion Jolien Boumkwo showed her team spirit at the European Championships in Poland when she stepped up to run the 100m hurdles and save her team from getting disqualified.
Boumkwo smiled as she carefully attempted each hurdle on Saturday. The 29-year-old finished the race without knocking any of the hurdles down in 32.81 seconds. That was 19 seconds after the winner, Teresa Errandonea of Spain.
“We sometimes do hurdles in training, so I know how to do it,” she said after the race. “I thought it was a special experience, because much more than with the shot put I had the feeling that everyone was looking at me.
“I try not to take myself too seriously as an athlete. The past has taught me that that will only make you cramp. If my two points ensure that we stay in the top division, this will certainly have been worth it.”
Boumkwo agreed to compete when Belgium’s two hurdlers had to pull out due to injury. Had no Belgian athlete competed in the event, the team would have been disqualified.
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She was cheered on by the crowd and congratulated by her opponents as she earned two points for the team.
Boumkwo’s efforts ended up being in vain: Belgium finished 14th out of 16 teams at the event and were relegated from Division 1 along with Turkey and Norway. Italy won the championships, ahead of Poland and Germany.