BELGIUM: ATHLETICS - Kevin Borlee will concentrate on the Olympics while twin brother Jonathan goes to Helsinki Games as does sister Olivia

Record ID: 330787

  • Title: BELGIUM: ATHLETICS - Kevin Borlee will concentrate on the Olympics while twin brother Jonathan goes to Helsinki Games as does sister Olivia
  • Date: 6th June 2012
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 21st June 2012 13:00
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  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA3FJ11EEX79XQ7QUV8W2JQDAE7
  • Story Text: European 400m champion Kevin Borlee said on Tuesday (June 5) that he had decided to go to the Olympic Games and skip the European Athletics Championships which start on June 27 in Helsinki.
    "Of course, I'd like to have defended my title and be able to participate in the European Championships, but it's an Olympic year and the objective is to perform at the Olympic Games. So you have to make a choice, the choice had to be made quickly, we chose to compete at the Olympic and that's it," Belgium's top athlete Kevin Borlee said.
    Kevin's twin brother and his sister are also in contention for the Olympics.
    Twin brother Jonathan has settled on a different strategy to Kevin's. The two brothers have their father Jacques Borlee as their coach. He explains that he's now considering Jonathan competing for the Championship's 200 metres race, a less demanding race, as a preparation for the larger prize of the Olympics' 400 metres competition.
    "We'll have to think if Jonathan will run the 200 metre race at the European Championship. If he runs the 200 metres race, he might not run the 4X400 metres series. Over there, we will be ambitious and therefore it will be a very important test for the 400 metres," said Jacques Borlee.
    Jacques Borlee, himself a former Belgian champion sprinter, added that the Helsinki event would involve five 400 metres races, when the relay was included.
    Asked by a journalist if his goal was to set a new European record in the 200 metres race, Jonathan denied that was the plan.
    "I will not go for it this year, maybe I will in the future. As for this year, racing the 200 metres race is not my focus. The focus is the 400 metres race and the 200 metres race will be for the purpose of preparation."
    The news conference served to summarise training to date in the United States and the programme of events for the rest of the season.
    The plans for 24-year-old Kevin and Jonathan are very different and indeed they will only face each other once, over 400 metres in Monaco on July 20, before the Olympics.
    Jacques explained that is partly because, although twins, they are different physically and mentally.
    "There are physical differences. First, Kevin weighs 2 kilograms more than Jonathan. They have a different mindset. Jonathan has a stride searching more in front, while Kevin pushes from behind more. Mentally, Kevin has a strategy of putting all the stones in place and when they are all in place he can perform. It takes more time. Jonathan, when he feels good, he is a true killer and can reach an exceptional performance more rapidly than Kevin," Jacques Borlee said.
    He added that the European Championship should be held every year with a trial taking place two weeks before the event proper, leaving just the semi-finals and final for individual events and just the final for the relay.
    He argues that an annual European event would be better for athletes and for the spectators.
    The news conference also featured the twins' elder sister Olivia Borlee, whose focus is on the 200 metres.
    "My qualification for the European Championship is a very good thing," she said. "Obviously, I want to be qualified for the Olympic Games. That's my target for this season."
    Olivia Borlee achieved a silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the Beijing Olympics, four years ago.
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