In addition, the Limburg gymnast Nina Derwael, multiple European champion and Olympic champion of Tokyo, also receives a honorary sign. IMEC CEO Luc Van den Hove also gets an honorary sign. He ensured that the Leuven research institution has developed in recent decades into a leading institution in the field of nano electronics and digital technology.
The fourth and last honorary sign goes to a duo: Simon Gronowski and Koenraad Tinel. Gronowski and Tinel are both children of the war. There is one big difference: while Gronowski had to go to school with a yellow star, Tinel grew up in a family who collaborated with the occupier. Gronowski lost his family in the concentration camps, Tinel could never come to terms with the suffering that his family had visited the Jews. Sixty years later they became best friends.