The Memorial receives a virtual visit from Ivo Van Damme

The anniversary edition of the Allianz Memorial Van Damme pays tribute to Ivo van Damme, the man whose name was posthumously given to the meeting. In the campaign movie for this 50th edition, Ivo himself takes on the leading role. He finds himself in 2026 at stadium, where he looks on with approval at what has become of the idea he once planted with a group of journalists: a major international athletics meeting in Brussels.

Ivo witnesses how, over the past fifty years, some of the greatest stars in athletics – including Seb Coe, Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, Mondo Duplantis and many others – have shone on this stage.

Ivo Van Damme was a highly promising Belgian athlete. At the age of 22, he won two silver medals at the Olympic Games in Montreal. Six months later, he tragically lost his life in a car accident while returning from a training camp. His vision of a top-level meeting in Brussels eventually became a reality in tribute to him. The very first edition of the Memorial Van Damme took place on 16 August 1977.