From the top left Jacques, Olivia, Jonathan, Kevin, Rayane and Dylan.
The twins Jonathan and Kevin after their individual double medal in the 400 m at the 2018 European Championships.
Three of the Borlée brothers, second from left Dylan Borlée, then the twins Kevin and Jonathan Borlée.

The Borlée family is a sporting family consisting of many athletes, one of whom, the progenitor Jacques, became a coach in the world of athletics.[1]

The family

The progenitor of the Borlee family is Jacques (born 1957), bronze medalist at the 1983 European Indoor Championships in Budapest on 200 m, while his first wife Edith Demaertelaere (born 1964) was a good sprinter with a personal best of 23.89. Six of his seven children are athletes (the first five born from the first marriage with Edith, the last two born from a second marriage).[2]

The eldest daughter Olivia (born 1986) won the silver medal at the Olympics, which was upgraded to gold in 2016 due to the Russian team's disqualification due to doping, and the world bronze at the 2007 Osaka World Championships with the 4 × 100 m relay and the other daughter Alizia (born 1991) was also a decent sprinter. The four sons are all 400 m specialists, the twins Jonathan and Kevin (born 1988), both Olympic finalists in London 2012, Dylan (born 1992) and the youngest Rayane. In addition, Jacques' older brother Jean-Pierre (born 1947) was also a sprinter.[3]

In 2015 the Belgian men's 4 × 400 metres relay team won the Belgian National Sports Merit Award (Trophée national du Mérite sportif) award assigned to the components Dylan Borlée, Jonathan Borlée, Kevin Borlée, Antoine Gillet et Julien Watrin.[4]

In an interview of 21 August 2013 released to the major Italian sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Jacques Borlée stated that he was inspired by his training methods to Sandro Calvesi, in turn the progenitor of one of the greatest families of Italian athletics, the Ottoz family. Calvesi was in fact the husband of the Berlin Olympian 1936 Gabre Gabric, father-in-law of the Olympic bronze medalist in the 110 m hs in Mexico City 1968, Eddy Ottoz and father of Lyana Calvesi, current president of the Atletica Calvesi club and coach of the sprinter Eleonora Marchiando.[5]

Palmarès

The Borlées have won medals in all five main competitions, namely: the Olympic Games (the gold medal by Olivia Borlée in 4×100 metres relay at Beijing 2008), the World Championships, both outdoor and indoor, the European Championships, both outdoor and indoor.

And again at the World Relays, in the European Team Championships (First League), in the Continental Cup, at the Francophone Games. And finally, at the youth level, the silver medal in the 400 m at the European U23 Championships by Dylan Borlée.[6][7][8][9][10]

AthleteIndividualTeamTotal
1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 1st place, gold medalist(s)2nd place, silver medalist(s)3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Kevin 111 836 947
Jonathan 001 917 916
Dylan 010 526 536
Olivia 100 101 201
Jacques 010 000 010

Individual medals

YearCompetitionVenueRankEventTimeNotes
Jacques (born 1957)
1983 European Indoor Championships Hungary Budapest 2nd 200 m 21.13 [note 1]
Olivia (born 1986)
2009 European Team Championships (First League) Norway Bergen 1st 200 m 23.82
Kevin (born 1988)
2010 European Championships Spain Barcelona 1st 400 m 45.08 SB
2011 World Championships South Korea Daegu 3rd 400 m 44.90 [note 2]
2018 European Championships Germany Berlin 2nd 400 m 45.13 [note 3]
Jonathan (born 1988)
2018 European Championships Germany Berlin 3rd 400 m 45.19 [note 4]
Dylan (born 1992)
2015 European Indoor Championships Czech Republic Prague 2nd 400 m 46.25 PB

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ He ran a better time (21.10) in semi-final.
  2. ↑ He ran a better time (44.77) in the semi-final.
  3. ↑ He ran a better time (45.07) in the semi-final.
  4. ↑ He ran a better time (44.87) in the semi-final.

References

  1. ↑ "Meet the first family of Belgian athletics". spikes.worldathletics.org. 26 July 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  2. ↑ "Mais qui est Rayane, le quatrième frère Borlée ?" (in French). rtbf.be. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2021. Rayane, leur petit frère de 19 ans. Il n'a pas la même mère que les trois ainés.
  3. ↑ "FRATELLI BORLEE L'ATLETICA IN FAMIGLIA" (in Italian). runtoday.it. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  4. ↑ "LE 4X400M MASCULIN REÇOIT LE TROPHÉE NATIONAL DU MÉRITE SPORTIF" (in French). lbfa.be. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  5. ↑ "C'è un pò di Italia nel miracolo Borlée "Noi figli di Calvesi"" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "Jacques Borlée - Profile". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  7. ↑ "Kevin Borlée - Profile". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  8. ↑ "Jonathan Borlée - Profile". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "Olivia Borlée - Profile". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  10. ↑ "Dylan Borlée - Profile". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
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