The Belgian men's 4 × 400 metres relay team, nicknamed the Belgian Tornados from July 2014 onwards, is the

relay team A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of Race track, racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in runni ...

of the Belgian national athletics team that has given the highest number of medals in international competitions, mainly thanks to the support of the Borlée family.

History

The Belgian men's 4 × 400 meters relay team has won 17 medals at international athletics competitions, six at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(two gold) and eleven (seven gold) at the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. Of these medals, eight were won in outdoor competitions (four gold) and nine in

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

competitions (five gold). At the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

the team's best result was 4th place four times.

Borlée family

The progenitor of the Borlee family is

Jacques Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...

(born 1957), bronze medalist at the 1983 European Indoor Championships in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

, while his first wife (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, but now only Rayane (born 1999) is an athlete). The eldest daughter

Olivia Olivia may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer), American singer Olivia Longott (born 1981) * Olívia (basketball), Brazilian basketball playe ...

(born 1986) won the gold medal at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

and the world bronze at the 2007 Osaka World Championships with the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky i ...

and the other daughter Alizia (born 1991) was also a decent sprinter. The four sons are all

400 m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

specialists, the twins Jonathan and

Kevin Kevin is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; ; ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicised from , an Irish diminutive form.''A Dictiona ...

(born 1988), both Olympic finalists in

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Dylan (born 1992) and the youngest Rayane. In addition, Jacques' older brother (born 1947) was also a sprinter. In 2015 the Belgian men's 4 × 400 meters relay team won the ''

Belgian National Sports Merit Award The Belgian National Sports Merit Award is an annual award handed out to a Belgian sportsperson or -team for exceptional merit. Players can only win the award once during their career, making this trophy one of the most prestigious in Belgian sport ...

'' (''Trophée national du Mérite sportif'') award assigned to the components Dylan Borlée,

Jonathan Borlée Jonathan Borlée (; born 22 February 1988) is a former Belgian sprinter, who specializes in the 400 metres. He is a member of the Borlée family. He qualified for the finals of the 400 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was a semi-finalist ...

Kevin Borlée Kevin Borlée (; born 22 February 1988) is a Belgian sprinter, who specializes in the 400 metres. He is a member of the Borlée family. Borlée won bronze at the 2011 World Championships in the 400 m. He qualified for the finals of the 400 me ...

, Antoine Gillet et

Julien Watrin Julien Watrin (born 27 June 1992) is a Belgian Sprint (running), sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. In 2023, he won his first individual major senior medal, with silver at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships, European Indoor C ...

Results

Olympic Games

Others competitions

;Outdoor ;Indoor

Notes

References

External links

Royal Belgian Athletics League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belgian men's 4 x 400 metres relay team National sports teams of Belgium National athletics teams National sports teams established in 1920