World Police and Fire Games: Brussels’ fire service staff proud of their 44 medals

World Police and Fire Games: Brussels’ fire service staff proud of their 44 medals
Credit: 2019Chengdu WPFG/ Facebook

Members of the Brussels fire service on Friday celebrated the 44 medals they won at this month’s 18th World Police and Fire Games in Chengdu, China.

The 38 sportsmen and women in this year’s delegation returned with 17 gold medals, 11 silver and 16 bronze medals. They shone, in particular, in cycling, with a 17-medal haul.

“The heat was terrible,” said Warrant Officer Marc Marien of the Anderlecht Fire Service. “We rode in 41-degree heat and very high degree of humidity,” added the fireman, who won 5 gold and 1 silver in cycling.

The World Police and Fire Games bring together about 12,000 members of police and emergency services from over 70 countries every two years. At the last session, held in 2017 in Los Angeles, U.S.A., the 22 members of the Brussels fire service who were part of the national delegation brought back 30 medals -13 gold, 11 silver and six bronze.

“Two years ago, we were able to obtain budgets which we were able to allocate to the participants, but the decision was only made public a short while before the games,” explained Tanguy du Bus de Warnaffe, head of the Brussels fire service. “The region committed one to two years ago to making this financing last,” which allowed us to send a larger delegation than in the past few years,” he said. “Knowing that, our sportsmen have trained correspondingly,” said the fire chief  “the results have exceeded our expectations.”

The Brussels Times


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