Memorial van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League.

It was first organized in 1977 by a group of journalists in honour of Ivo van Damme, a Belgian double medal winner at the Montreal Olympics who was killed the previous year in a car accident at the age of 22. A former footballer, he turned to athletics and in particular the 1500 m and 3000 m disciplines. Later on, he discovered the 800 m. In 1976, he took part in the Montreal Olympic Games, where he won silver medals in both the 800 m and 1500 m.

+ = en route to a longer distance

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (born 18 October 1960), professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist, actor, and director best known for his martial arts action films. The most successful of these films include Bloodsport (1988), Kickboxer (1989), Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Sudden Death (1995) and JCVD (2008). He is known as "The Muscles from Brussels".

After studying martial arts intensively from the age of ten, Van Damme achieved national success in Belgium as a martial artist and bodybuilder, earning the "Mr. Belgium" bodybuilding title. He emigrated to the United States in 1982 to pursue a career in film, and achieved success with Bloodsport (1988), based on a story written by Frank Dux. He attained subsequent box office success with Timecop (1994), which was his highest grossing film with over $100 million, until 2011's Kung Fu Panda 2, which grossed over $665 million.

Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, the son of Eliana and Eugène Van Varenberg, who was an accountant. He began martial arts at the age of ten, enrolled by his father in a Shotokan karate school. His styles consist of kickboxing, Shotokan karate, Muay Thai and Taekwondo. He eventually earned his black belt in karate. He started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title.

Justin Gatlin (born February 10, 1982) is an American sprinter. He is an Olympic gold medalist, with a 100 m personal best of 9.85 seconds and two-time World indoor champion in the 60-meter dash. He served a four-year ban from track and field for testing positive for a banned substance; Gatlin had appealed the ban in 2009, but it was later denied.

Gatlin attended Woodham High School in Pensacola, Florida.

In the fall of 2000, Gatlin arrived at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as a good high school 110 m hurdler. During high school, Justin was recruited for track by coaches Vince Anderson and Bill Webb who quickly realized his potential and turned him into a sprinter. After training and competing in UT's program for two years under the guidance of former Tennessee assistant Vince Anderson, Gatlin won six consecutive NCAA titles. In the fall of 2002, Gatlin left Tennessee after his sophomore season to join the professional ranks. Just two years later, he won the gold medal in the 100 m (9.85 s) at the 2004 Summer Olympics, narrowly beating Francis Obikwelu of Portugal and the defending champion Maurice Greene. He also won a bronze medal in a USA sweep of the 200 m race, and a silver medal as a member of the 4 x 100 m relay squad. In the 2005 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, he again triumphed over 2003 champion Kim Collins, capturing the gold medal in the 100 m.

Mutaz Essa Barshim (born 24 June 1991) is a Qatari track and field athlete who specialises in the high jump. He is the national record holder with a best mark of 2.37 metres. He was the Asian Indoor and World Junior champion in 2010. He won the high jump gold medals at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships and 2011 Military World Games.

Trained at the ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence, Barshim enjoyed his first international successes in 2010. He set an indoor Qatari record in Gothenburg in early February with a jump of 2.25 m, and then went on to take the gold medal at the 2010 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, winning with a clearance of 2.20 m. He was selected to represent Qatar at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha and his performance of 2.23 m left him in fourteenth place in the qualifying round. These feats made him the first graduate of the ASPIRE Academy to either compete at the world championship-level and hold the national record in an Olympic sport.

Barshim won at the Arab Athletics Championship for Juniors in Cairo in May, clearing an outdoor best of 2.23 m, and then went on to secure the continental junior title at the 2010 Asian Junior Athletics Championships. His winning mark at the competition (2.31 m) was a national record and a world-leading mark for junior athletes – it was also the best jump by a junior since Huang Haiqiang cleared 2.32 m in 2006. He went on to win at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Moncton, winning with a height of 2.30 m.

Kevin Borlée (French pronunciation: [kevin bɔʁle]; born 22 February 1988, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert) is a Belgian sprinter, who specializes in the 400 metres. He was a semi-finalist at both the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2009 World Championships, and is the current European Champion on this distance.

Kevin also takes part in the Belgian 4 x 400 m relay team. The team finished 5th at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 4th at the 2009 World Championships. The team won silver at the 2010 World Indoor Championships and bronze at the 2010 European Championships.

He has a twin brother, Jonathan, younger brother, Dylan, and a sister, Olivia, who are also sprinters. All four are trained by their father Jacques.

Just like his twin brother, Kevin obtained his first senior title at the age of 18: the Belgian Indoor championships in 2006 in Ghent, where he won the 400 m, while his brother won the 200 m. Later on, Kevin would add 3 more Belgian indoor titles: once more on the 400 m and two on the 200 m.

On May 31, 2008 Kevin and Jonathan took part in the 4 x 400 m on a meeting in Neerpelt. Together with Cédric Van Branteghem and Kristof Beyens, they improved a 27 year old national record by more than a second to 3:02.51s. However, this was 1 hundred of a second above the qualification time for the Olympic Games. Two weeks later, with Nils Duerinck instead of Kristof Beyens, they broke the national record again in a meeting in Namur to 3:02.13s.