Monument Karel Van Wijnendaele

Karel Van Wijnendaele was a pioneer of Flemish sports journalism. He was the fifth in a family of fifteen children. Because compulsory education had not yet been introduced in Belgium, Van Wijnendaele started working from his fourteenth year. In 1912 he founded "Sportwerled" (World of Sports) with some other journalists. The following year he became editor in chief and he organized for the first time the Tour of Flanders to promote his newspaper. During the First World War, the newspaper stopped being published. Van Wijnendaele resumed in 1919 its activities in sport. He became co-owner in 1925 and in 1931 the sole owner of the magazine until it was acquired in 1939 by Het Nieuwsblad. Until his death he continued to lead the sports section. Karel "Koarle" Van Wijnendaele linked cycling with the Flemish cause. He fed the myth of the Flandrien. The concept of the American dream: a simple folk boy who could become a champion through tough willpower. He is buried in the cemetery of Sint-Martens-Latem.

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