| QUOTE |
| Olympic high jump champion Hellebaut quits BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Olympic high jump champion Tia Hellebaut has announced her immediate retirement, after revealing she is three months pregnant. The 30-year-old Belgian upset favorite Blanka Vlasic in Beijing in August with a winning jump of 2.05 meters to take gold. She also is the reigning world indoor pentathlon champion and European indoor and outdoor high jump title holder. Hellebaut said she is expecting a baby with her coach and partner Wim Vandeven. "Wim and I quickly had the feeling after the games that it would be impossible to match 2008," she said. "Getting Olympic gold is the ultimate. Afterwards, it is tough to find new challenges and life is more than jumping over a bar." The announcement took the athletics world by total surprise. Hellebaut had been the first Olympic athletics champion from Belgium since the 1964 Tokyo Games and she had been widely expected to try for the world outdoor title next year. "Nature took a quick decision and it was already clear I was pregnant in mid October," she said. "It is a dream scenario and a logical step in my life." It is the second major retirement in Belgian athletics this year, after European sprint champion and Olympic relay silver medalist Kim Gevaert also said she would stop competing to pursue motherhood. Hellebaut has always been an athlete full of surprises. No one had expected her to win the world indoor pentathlon title in Valencia in March, which she followed up by an even bigger upset on a muggy evening in August at the Bird's Nest in Beijing. Croatia's Vlasic had not lost in 34 competitions and seemed destined for gold. Hellebaut had struggled throughout the season with tender tendons, and was unsure at one point whether she would be able to challenge at all in China. Vlasic looked to be in dominant form in Beijing, not missing once before 2.05 meters, while Hellebaut dropped the bar at three heights before going through on each second attempt. Then Hellebaut hit the perfect stride, clearing 2.05 on her first fluid jump to claim the gold |