Veerle Dejaeghere is a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 runner

Running

Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...

, who has specialized in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She represented her country at the Summer Olympics in 2000 and 2008.

Dejaeghere formerly specialized in the 1500 metres

1500 metres

The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could...

, reaching the semi-final in this event at the 2000 Summer Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

.

She has been very successful in the Lotto Cross Cup

Lotto Cross Cup

The Lotto Cross Cup is an annual series of international cross country running competitions in Belgium. The inaugural season was in 1982–1983. The series comprises Belgium's foremost cross country competitions, including the IAAF permit meeting in Brussels and the European Athletics sanctioned...

 (Belgium's domestic cross country series), having won the series overall a total of eight times, including six consecutive wins from 2003–09. This included a win at the Lotto Cross Cup Brussels

Lotto Cross Cup Brussels

The Lotto Cross Cup Brussels, also known as the IRIS Lotto Cross Cup, is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in mid-December in Brussels, Belgium...

 in 2007, in which she finished ahead of Lornah Kiplagat

Lornah Kiplagat

Lornah Kiplagat is a Dutch long-distance runner. She was born in Kabiemit, Rift Valley Province, Kenya and came to the Netherlands in 1999. She gained Dutch citizenship in 2003 and has competed for the Netherlands since...

 and Emebt Etea

Emebt Etea

Emebt Etea is an Ethiopian runner who specializes in the 1500 metres.She finished fourth at the 2006 World Junior Championships and seventh at the 2008 African Championships...

. She has also won twice at the Eurocross

Eurocross

Eurocross is an annual international cross country running competition which takes place in Diekirch, Luxembourg in February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships....

 meeting in Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

.

Dejaeghere missed most of the 2009 and 2010 seasons. She was the runner-up at the Campaccio

Campaccio

The Campaccio is an annual cross country running competition which takes place in early January in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy. Organised by the Unione Sportiva Sangiorgese , the event attracts participation from Olympic and world champions in athletics, in spite of the fact that the host town...

 race in January 2011, but did not compete again until November's Lotto Cross Cup van West-Vlaanderen, where she was again runner-up (this time behind Yuliya Ruban).Belgium's Bekele gets impressive home win in Roeselare . European Athletics (2011-11-28). Retrieved on 2011-12-01.

Achievements

Representing
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest Budapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...	10th	3000 m
2005	European Indoor Championships	Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...	9th	3000 m
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	5th	3000 m s'chase 2006 European Athletics Championships – Women's 3000 metres steeplechase The women's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2006 European Athletics Championships were held at the Ullevi on August 10 and August 12.First women's steeplechase event in European Athletics Championships...
2007	World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...	Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... , Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	11th	3000 m s'chase 2007 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 3000 metres steeplechase The Women's 3,000 metres Steeplechase event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics took place on August 25, 2007 and August 27, 2007 at the Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan...

Personal bests

• 1500 metres
  1500 metres
  The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could...
  
   - 4:05.05 min (2002)
• Mile run - 4:29.93 min (2003)
• 3000 metres
  3000 metres
  The 3000 metres is a popular amateur middle distance track event where 7.5 laps are completed around a 400 metre track. This event is generally classified as middle distance, but it could be classed as a long distance event in many high schools, since they do not promote races such as the 5000 and...
  
   - 8:49.31 min (2000)
• 3000 metres steeplechase - 9:28.47 min (2007)
• 5000 metres
  5000 metres
  The 5000 metres is a popular running distance also known as 5 km or 5K in American English. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics. "5000 metres" refers to racing on a track and "5K" usually refers to a roadrace or cross country event...
  
  - 15:19.73 min (2005)