The U.S. and Belgium, who meet in the World Cup round of 16 on Monday, have a long history of clashes at the Olympics, including recent medal showdowns.
A look at the most memorable American-Belgian head-to-heads from the Games:
Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024: Suni Lee (USA) vs. Nina Derwael (BEL), Gymnastics
At each of the last two Summer Games, Lee and Derwael went into the uneven bars final as medal contenders.
In Tokyo, Derwael, the reigning world champion, and Lee, the Olympic all-around gold medalist, were the top two in qualifying. In the bars final, Derwael had three tenths more difficulty than anybody else, plus put up the second-highest execution score to win comfortably by .367, becoming the first Olympic champion gymnast from Belgium. Lee took bronze to complete her set of a medal of every color at her first Olympics.
In between Tokyo and Paris, both Lee and Derwael faced challenges. For Lee, it was overcoming two different types of kidney diseases just to make the U.S. team. Derwael came back from September 2023 shoulder surgery.
Lee and Derwael qualified third and fourth into the 2024 Olympic bars final, where Algerian Kaylia Nemour grabbed gold as the heavy favorite. Lee edged Derwael for the bronze medal by .034 of a point.
Atlanta 1996: Jeremy Linn (USA) vs. Fred Deburghgraeve (BEL), Swimming
Belgium’s lone Olympic swimming gold medal came at the expense of an American.
At the 1992 Barcelona Games, Fred Deburghgraeve (dee-BUR-grah-vah) slipped on the blocks in the preliminary heats of the 100m breaststroke and finished 34th. He then retired for six months.
But at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Deburghgraeve broke the world record in the prelims, then edged American Jeremy Linn by 12 hundredths of a second for gold on the first night of competition.
Linn, a noted Phish fan, was known as the “frog boy” for his unique warm-up jumping style.
Munich 1972: Frank Shorter (USA) vs. Karel Lismont (BEL), Track and Field
When Frank Shorter became the first American to win the marathon in 64 years, the runner-up was a Belgian. Karel Lismont finished a distant 2 minutes, 12 seconds behind.
It was the first time that Lismont, then 23, failed to win a marathon, according to Olympedia. Still, he became, at the time, the youngest Olympic marathon medalist in 40 years.
Antwerp 1920: Tug of War
Tug of war was held at the Olympics from 1900 through 1920. At the Belgium-hosted 1920 Games, the results show the Belgians taking bronze and the Americans finishing in fourth.
However, it’s not clear if the U.S. and Belgium faced off in a bronze-medal match, per Olympedia: “The United States may have left early, and not pulled against Belgium for the bronze medal. It is not certain if the final match took place, but Belgium certainly won the bronze medal.”
Los Angeles 2028: Anna Hall (USA) vs. Nafi Thiam (BEL), Track and Field
The next Summer Games could pit Anna Hall, the 2025 World champion, going for the first U.S. gold medal in the heptathlon since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1992. She may have to defeat Nafi Thiam, who won the last three Olympic heptathlon titles.
Thiam could become the first woman to win four gold medals in an individual track and field event — one day before Kenyan Faith Kipyegon can achieve the feat in the 1500m.
