The Borlee brothers did what seemed beyond possible, they not only made up three quarters of Belgium's 4x400m team for many years, but they also took home two European golds while the three of them ran on the same relay.
In the lead up to the Birmingham 2026 on 10-16 August, we are taking a look back at 26 classic moments from the European Athletics Championships, including this incredible moment for the Borlee family.
The background
The Borlee name is one of the sports’ most celebrated families, with the surname being a very familiar appearance on the track.
It all started with Jacques Borlee.
The then 25-year-old, Jaques, took silver at the Budapest 1983 European Athletics Indoor Championships over 200m in what would be the first of many medals to the Borlee name.
Just three years after winning that silver, Jaques and his wife Edith Demaertelaere, who was also a sprinter herself, had their first child, Olivia Borlee. She would go on to win a world championships bronze in the 4x100m in 2007, and Olympic gold again in the 4x100m the following year in Beijing.
Then in 1988 twins Jonathan and Kevin were born and in 2012 would place fifth and sixth in the Olympic final, and be key members of the Belgian 4x400m relay team for years, earning three European titles amongst their many medals.
Alizia Borlee was their fourth born was also an athlete, although didn’t quite reach the same level as her siblings.
Jaques and Edith had one more child together in 1992, Dylan Borlee, who would also specialise in the 400m and join his older brothers as a key part of the Belgian 4x400m relay team.
Later Jaques would remarry and have two more children with one of them, Rayane born in 1999, also becoming an athlete and competing for Belgium at the 2018 World Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere.
Not only did six of Jaques’s seven children become athletes, he also coached them in his retirement from being an athlete himself. He was building an athletic enterprise.
What happened?
Twins Jonathan and Kevin were on 11 World or European medal winning teams together in addition to taking silver and bronze individually over 400m at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.
Kevin also took bronze at the 2011 world championships and gold at the 2010 European Athletics Championships.
But it was when Jonathan, Kevin and Dylan teamed up alongside Julien Watrin in the Amsterdam 2016 European Athletics Championships 4x400m final that something truly special happened.
The three brothers and Watrin lined up ready to make history. They stormed one by one around the track, staying just within touching distance of Great Britain who held the lead.
But on the final 100m, Kevin launched his attack. He hunted down GB’s Matthew Hudson-Smith who started to buckle under the pressure, allowing the Belgian team to sweep through for gold.
They had somehow done what seemed beyond imagination, three brothers on the same relay team taking a European gold.
But they didn’t stop there.
Two years later at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships, they returned to defend their title, this time accompanied by Jonathan Sacoor.
The Spanish team led much of the race and on the final leg Bruno Hortelano had stormed to a roughly 30m lead with around 250m to go, but Kevin stayed confident.
As he turned the final bend, Kevin kicked into a new gear and once again hunted down the leading team as the Spaniard tired, before sailing past to seal another title not just for Belgium but also his brothers.
They completed the seemingly impossible, twice.
The aftermath
“Everybody ran great, we were defending champions and we won gold again, so great,” Kevin said in a post-race interview.
“Amazing feeling and the team ran really great.”
Jonathan added, ”We’ve been running the 4x400m since ’08 in Beijing and we’ve made every final.
“So every time I step on the track I give my best to the team, today I was able to do that again. The whole team ran really well, it’s so amazing.”
In 2019 there was talks of a potential all Borlee-relay at a major championships as the youngest of the brothers in the sport, Rayane, also showed promise.
But with an 11 year age gap with the twins, it seemed unlikely and they unfortunately didn’t get to run together at a major championships with Rayane having left the sport in 2021.
That same year though, Kevin, Jonathan and Dylan all went to Tokyo for the Olympics and placed an agonising fourth in the 4x400m once again.
Dylan and Kevin would go on to take silver at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships and bronze at the 2022 world championships alongside Watrin and Alexander Doom.
That would mark Kevin’s last European championships, but he would compete in the Paris 2024 Olympics and finish fourth in the 4x400m final once more before retiring alongside his twin Jonathan.
The two then took over coaching their training group from their dad, while Dylan continued racing and has taken a European gold, world indoor gold, and world bronze medal since.
This year, Dylan could compete at his fifth European Athletics Championships and look to defend the title once more, reminding everyone of the Borlee family’s dominance.