Tess Routliffe

Tess Routliffe

Personal information
Born	(1998-09-27) 27 September 1998 Auckland, New Zealand
Height	1.34 m (4 ft 5 in)
Weight	54 kg (119 lb)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Classifications	S7, SB7, SM7
Club	Dorado Stars Swim Club
Medal record Women's swimming Representing Canada Paralympic Games Silver medal – second place 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200 m ind. medley SM7 Silver medal – second place 2024 Paris 200 m ind. medley SM7 Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris 100 m breaststroke SB7 World Championships Gold medal – first place 2022 Madeira 100 m breaststroke SB7 Gold medal – first place 2023 Manchester 100 m breaststroke SB7 Gold medal – first place 2023 Manchester 200m medley SM7 Silver medal – second place 2015 Glasgow 200 m medley SM7 Silver medal – second place 2019 London 100 m breaststroke SB7 Silver medal – second place 2022 Madeira 200 m medley SM7 Silver medal – second place 2023 Manchester 50 m butterfly S7 Bronze medal – third place 2019 London 200 m medley SM7 Bronze medal – third place 2019 London 4×100 m freestyle relay Bronze medal – third place 2022 Madeira 50 m butterfly S7 Bronze medal – third place 2023 Manchester 100 m freestyle S7 Commonwealth Games Bronze medal – third place 2018 Gold Coast 50 m butterfly S7 Parapan American Games Gold medal – first place 2015 Toronto 50 m freestyle S7 Gold medal – first place 2015 Toronto 100 m freestyle S7 Gold medal – first place 2015 Toronto 100 m backstroke S7 Gold medal – first place 2015 Toronto 100 m breaststroke SB7 Silver medal – second place 2015 Toronto 200 m medley SM8

Tess Routliffe (born 27 September 1998) is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer and winner of multiple world championship and Paralympic medals. 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.

Early life and education

Routliffe is the youngest of three daughters and was born in Auckland, New Zealand while her parents Robert Routliffe and Catherine MacLennan, were on an around-the-world sailing adventure. She was born with hypochondroplasia. Her family moved back to Canada when she was six months old, eventually settling in Caledon, Ontario. She has two sisters, Tara and Erin, the latter a tennis Grand Slam event winner in women's doubles. Routliffe began swimming at age 3 with the Dorado Stars in Caledon. Routliffe attended Mayfield Secondary School in Caledon. She has a degree in communications and human relations from Concordia University.

Career

Routliffe began competitive swimming at age 14. She made six finals and won silver in the 100m backstroke at the 2014 Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships when she was 16. In 2014, she was awarded the Para Swimming Athlete of the Year Award at the Swim Ontario Annual General Meeting. She won six medals at the 2015 Speedo Cam Am Para Swimming Championships in Toronto. Routliffe made her international para-swimming debut at the 2015 Parapan Am Games in Toronto. 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. At the Rio 2016 Paralympics, Routliffe won silver in the SM7 200-m individual medley, establishing a new Canadian record. She also made it to five individual finals at the Games. She won bronze in the 200-metre individual medley at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, her first career medal at worlds. Routliffe missed the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games after breaking her spine at the L1 vertebra while weight training. She made her return to competition at the 2022 Bell Canadian Swimming Trials, where she won the multi-class 100-m breaststroke. At the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships she won gold in the 100-metre breaststroke SB7, silver in the 200 individual medley SM7, 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 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. 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.

Personal life

Her oldest sister, Erin, is a professional tennis player who represents New Zealand. Her other sister, Tara, played NCAA college volleyball.

External links

• Tess Routliffe at the Canadian Paralympic Committee
• Tess Routliffe at the International Paralympic Committee
• Tess Routliffe at IPC.InfostradaSports.com (archived)
• Tess Routliffe at Cœur Handisport Archived 11 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine