The patriarch 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).[2]
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.[3]
Early successes
Borlée was born in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. He has an identical twin brother, Kevin (b. 1988), younger brother, Dylan (b. 1992), and an older sister, Olivia (b. 1986), who are also sprinters. All four are trained by their father Jacques Borlée (b. 1957).
Just like his twin brother, Jonathan Borlée obtained his first senior title at the age of 18: the Belgian Indoor championships in 2006 in Ghent, where he won the 200 m, while his brother won the 400 m. Later that year, Borlée would also become the outdoor champion on the 400 m.
On May 31, 2008, Kévin and Jonathan Borlée took part in the 4 × 400 m on a meeting in Neerpelt. Together with Cédric Van Branteghem and Kristof Beyens, they improved a 27-year-old national record by more than a second to 3:02.51s. However, this was 1 hundredth of a second above the qualification time for the Olympic Games. Two weeks later, with Nils Duerinck instead of Kristof Beyens, they broke the national record again in a meeting in Namur to 3:02.13s.
National record at Summer Olympics in Beijing
On August 19, 2008, at the semi-finals of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Jonathan Borlée ran a new personal best of 45.11s - yet this was not good enough to reach the final.
In the 4 × 400 m relay, with teammates Kévin Borlée, Cédric Van Branteghem and Arnaud Ghislain, they qualified for the final with a new national record of 3:00.67s. They originally finished 5th in the final with yet again a national record of 2:59.37s. The race was won by the American team in 2:55.39s, a new Olympic record. The Russian team, who had finished 3rd, were later disqualified promoting Belgium to 4th place.
Moved to the United States
At the end of 2008, Jonathan Borlée moved together with his brother Kévin to Tallahassee to enroll in Florida State University.[4] During this period, Jonathan Borlée qualified for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Borlée won the 400 m in 44.78s, a new national record, while his brother Kévin finished 4th in 45.43s. Later on they had a big part in 4 × 400 m relay victory of Florida State with time of 2:59.59s, the second best season time.
Shortly thereafter, Jonathan injured himself: a stress fracture on the tarsus, which ruled him out for the rest of the season, including the 2009 World Championships. Shortly after, brother Kévin suffered the same injury at the opposite foot.
At the beginning of 2010, the Borlée-twins were back in shape. At the 2010 World Indoor Championships, the 4 × 400 m relay team with teammates Nils Duerinck and Antoine Gillet, they won their heat in 3:09.84s, a national indoor record. In the final, with Cédric Van Branteghem instead of Nils Duerinck, they won silver with a time 3:06.94s, another national record. It was the first time a Belgian relay team had ever delivered such a performance.
European Championships 2010
Coming into the European Championships in Barcelona, Jonathan Borlée had recorded a new national record of 44.77s at a Diamond League meeting in Paris, just weeks before the championships. This was the fastest European time. Borlée reached the final with two wins in the heats and the semi-finals in 45.91s and 44.71s respectively, the latter being a new national record again. In the final however, Jonathan could not fulfill the expectations and finished 7th in 45.35s. His brother Kévin became the new European Champion in 45.08s after an impressive sprint in the last 50 metres.
The Belgian 4 × 400 m relay team reached the final. Borlée was spared in the heats, but won bronze together with Kévin Borlée, Arnaud Destatte and Cédric Van Branteghem with a time of 3:02.60s.
2012
The Belgian team won the 4 × 400 m at the European Championships.
At the Olympics, Borlée set his current personal best and improved upon his brother's national record for 400m in the first round of the Olympics. His 44.43 was clearly the best of the round for the entire field. He was not able to match that time in the semi-final but qualified for the final where he finished 6th, .02 behind his brother in 5th. Had he been able to run 44.43 in the final, it would have been good enough for the silver medal.
2015
The Belgian 4 x 400 team that Borlée was in set a new area record in winning the gold medal of the European Indoor Championship. The team also finished 5th at the World Championship.
2016
Borlée qualified for both the 400 m and the 4 × 400 m at the 2016 Olympics, reaching the semifinals in the individual events. The 4 × 400 m team finished in 4th place, setting a new national record. The 4 × 400 m team had previously won the European Championships.
European Championships 2018
At the 400 m of the European Championships in Berlin, Jonathan Borlée reached the final with a win in heat 2 in 45.19s and a 2nd place finish in the 1st semi-final in a personal season's best of 44.87s. In the final, Borlée came in third after Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith and his twin brother Kevin in 45.19s.
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