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Olivia Borlée

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Olivia Borlée
Olivia Borlée at the 2009 World Championships
Personal information
National teamBelgium
Born (1986-04-10) 10 April 1986 (age 38)
Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium
Sport
SportAthletics
Event200 metres
College teamFlorida State University
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
  • 100 m: 11.39 (2007)
  • 200 m: 22.98 (2006)
  • 400 m: 53.38 (2014)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Belgium
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing 4x100 m relay
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Osaka 4x100 m relay

Olivia Borlée (born 10 April 1986 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert) is a retired Belgian sprinter who specialized in the 200 metres.[1] Her personal best time in the 200 is 22.98 seconds, achieved in July 2006 in Brussels. She has a personal best of 11.39 seconds in the 100 metres. She won a gold medal in the 4x100 m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics with teammates Hanna Mariën, Élodie Ouédraogo, and Kim Gevaert in a time of 42.54 seconds, which set a new Belgian record.

Sport career

[edit]
Olivia, first from left at Barcelona 2010.

Borlée represented Belgium at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She competed at the 4x100 metres relay together with Gevaert, Mariën and Ouédraogo. In their first round heat, they placed first in front of Great Britain, Brazil, and Nigeria. Their time of 42.92 seconds was the third fastest time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this result, they qualified for the final in which they sprinted to a time of 42.54 seconds and 2nd place behind Russia but in front of Nigeria to take the silver medal, missing out on the gold medal by 0.23 seconds.[1] However, one of the Russian runners, Yuliya Chermoshanskaya, was later found to have used two banned performance-enhancing drugs, resulting in the Russian team's disqualification, thereby promoting Belgium to the gold medal position. Borlée was officially presented with the gold medal eight years later on September 10, 2016.[2]

Borlée represented Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She competed in the 200 metres event. She finished 7th in her heat with a time of 23.53 seconds. She did not qualify for the semifinals.[3] She was the flag bearer for Belgium during the Parade of Nations.[4] She retired after the Rio games.[5]

Fashion career

[edit]

After retiring from professional sport, Borlée and Olympic teammate Elodie Ouedraogo teamed up again to found the sustainable sportswear brand 4254,[5] named after their Olympic medal-winning time. The brand won the Emerging Talent of the Year at the 2018 Belgian Fashion Awards.[6]

Borlée family

[edit]
Main article: Borlée family

The progenitor of the Borlee family is Jacques, bronze medalist at the 1983 European Indoor Championships in Budapest on 200 m, while his first wife Edith Demaertelaere 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).[7]

The eldest daughter Olivia won the gold medal at the Olympics and the world bronze at the 2007 Osaka World Championships with the 4 × 100 m relay and the other daughter Alizia was also a decent sprinter. The four sons are all 400 m specialists, the twins Jonathan and Kevin, both Olympic finalists in London 2012, Dylan and the youngest Rayane. In addition, Jacques' older brother Jean-Pierre was also a sprinter.[8]

Achievements

[edit]
Year Competition Venue Rank Event Time Notes
2007 World Championships Japan Osaka 3rd 4×100 m relay 42.75 NR
2008 Olympic Games China Beijing 1st 4×100 m relay 42.54 NR
2009 European Team Championships (1st League) Norway Bergen 1st 200 m 23.82

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Athlete biography: Olivia Borlee". Beijing2008.cn. Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. Archived from the original on 2 September 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  2. ^ Rowbottom, Mike (10 September 2016). "Coe and Hansen hail belated Olympic gold for Belgian women's 4x100m team following Russian doping positive". www.insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Women's 200m - Standings". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  4. ^ "The Flagbearers for the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony". Olympic.org. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  5. ^ a b "A Belgian Label Created by Olympians Will Turn Heads at the Gym and Beyond". Vogue. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Belgian Fashion Awards 2018: Voici nos lauréats!". Site-LeVifWeekend-FR (in French). 11 October 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Mais qui est Rayane, le quatrième frère Borlée ?". rtbf.be (in French). 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.
  8. ^ "FRATELLI BORLEE L'ATLETICA IN FAMIGLIA". runtoday.it (in Italian). 7 August 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
[edit]
Awards
Preceded by Vlaams Sportjuweel
(as the "Women's 4x100 m team"
shared with
Kim Gevaert,
Hanna Mariën,
Élodie Ouédraogo)
2007 		Succeeded by
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Belgium
Rio de Janeiro 2016 		Succeeded by
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