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Tess Routliffe
Tess Routliffe (born 27 September 1998) is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer and winner of multiple world championship and Paralympic medals.[1] She represented Canada at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she won the silver medal in the women's 200 m individual medley SM7.[2] Early life and educationRoutliffe is the youngest of three daughters[3] and was born in Auckland, New Zealand while her parents Robert Routliffe and Catherine MacLennan, were on an around-the-world sailing adventure.[4][5] She was born with hypochondroplasia.[6] Her family moved back to Canada when she was six months old,[3] eventually settling in Caledon, Ontario.[7] She has two sisters, Tara and Erin, the latter a tennis Grand Slam event winner in women's doubles.[8] Routliffe began swimming at age 3 with the Dorado Stars in Caledon.[6] Routliffe attended Mayfield Secondary School in Caledon.[9] She has a degree in communications and human relations from Concordia University.[10] CareerRoutliffe began competitive swimming at age 14.[4] She made six finals and won silver in the 100m backstroke at the 2014 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships when she was 16.[11][12] In 2014, she was awarded the Para Swimming Athlete of the Year Award at the Swim Ontario Annual General Meeting.[13] She won six medals at the 2015 Speedo Cam Am Para Swimming Championships in Toronto.[4] Routliffe made her international para-swimming debut at the 2015 Parapan Am Games in Toronto.[6] She won gold medals in the 50-metre and100-metre freestyle, the 100-metre breaststroke, and the100-metre backstroke, and a silver medal in the 200-metre individual medley. At the 2015 International Paralympic Committee World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, she won silver in the 200-metre individual medley and finished fourth in four other races. Mike Thompson recruited her to the Swimming Canada’s Para-swimming Intensive Training Program in Quebec.[14] At the Rio 2016 Paralympics, Routliffe won silver in the SM7 200-m individual medley, establishing a new Canadian record.[15] She also made it to five individual finals at the Games.[16] She won bronze in the 200-metre individual medley at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, her first career medal at worlds.[11] Routliffe missed the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games after breaking her spine at the L1 vertebra while weight training.[7] She made her return to competition at the 2022 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials, where she won the multi-class 100-m breaststroke.[17] At the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships she won gold in the 100-metre breaststroke SB7, silver in the 200 individual medley SM7,[18] and bronze in the 50 butterfly S7. At the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester, she won gold in the women’s SM7 200m medley[19] and the women's 100m breaststroke SB7, silver in the women's 50m butterfly S7, and a bronze in the women's 100-metre freestyle S7.[20] Routliffe is set to compete in the women’s 50m butterfly S7, 100m breaststroke SB7 and 200m individual medley SM7 at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.[5] Personal lifeHer oldest sister, Erin, is a professional tennis player who represents New Zealand.[21] Her other sister, Tara, played NCAA college volleyball.[5][1] References
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