BRUSSELS (AP) — A Belgian cyclist has received an Olympic gold medal for the road team event — 62 years after crossing the finish line at the London Games in 1948.
Eugene Van Roosbroeck, now 82, was given the medal at a special ceremony at the Belgian Olympic Committee offices last week. After racing in the 1948 games, Van Roosbroeck told the daily De Standaard that he and his three teammates — unaware they had won the team event — caught a red double-decker bus back to the army barracks that served as the Olympic Village.
"We were first in the team standings, but that was a result that they drew up only after many calculations," he said.
Of the four-man team, Van Roosbroeck was the only one able to attend the medal ceremony. The medal was hung around his neck by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, who is Belgian.
