Paris 2024: Braunschweig and Routliffe, the Paralympic and Olympic siblings

Canada’s Tess Routliffe and Germany’s Malte Braunschweig will soon be packing for Paris for the Paralympic Games. While finalising their preparations for the most important event of the year, the two Para swimmers are also paying special attention to the Olympics, for family reasons.

Malte’s brother Ole and Tess’ sister Erin are competing at the Olympic Games. 

For the Braunschweig brothers, this will be their second experience in three years. They became the first German sibling pair to compete at both the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo, and now they are doing it again.

"It's a really nice feeling that we're the first sibling pair to go to the Olympic Games and the Paralympics," Malte told German broadcaster DW. 

"It's really cool to be able to say that you've left at least a small footprint in the history of the sport," added Ole.

In Paris, Ole competed in the men’s 100m backstroke and is part of Germany’s men’s and mixed 4x100m relay teams. 

Just two weeks later, Malte will be swimming in the same Aquatics Centre. The civil engineering student will compete in two events, the men’s 50m freestyle S9 on 2 September and the 100m butterfly S9 on 6 September.

Braunschweig took a silver medal in the 100m butterfly at this year’s European Championships in Madeira finishing 0.80 seconds behind gold medallist Simone Barlaam of Italy. The German also picked up a bronze medal in the event in the 2023 World Championships in Manchester.

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Between Canada and New Zealand

For the Routliffe family, Paris 2024 will be a first-time experience with two siblings in the Games. Born in New Zealand, the Routliffe sisters moved to Canada at a young age. 

Tess made her Paralympic debut at Rio 2016 taking a silver medal in the women’s 200m individual medley SM7. She missed Tokyo 2020 due to a back injury but will making her return in Paris. 

Her sister Erin is a tennis player who competes for New Zealand. The 29-year-old reached the world number one doubles ranking for the first time in July and made her Olympic debut in Paris in the women’s doubles alongside Lulu Sun. 

They also have another sister athlete, volleyball player Tara. 

Tess is set to compete in the women’s 50m butterfly S7, 100m breaststroke SB7 and 200m individual medley SM7 in Paris. She medalled in all three events at last year’s World Championships in Manchester with a gold in the 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke, and a silver in the 50m fly.

She made her comeback from injury at the Madeira 2022 World Championships and thanked her sisters for the support during her recovery. 

“My sisters were the biggest supporters, they had to be my nurses for six weeks. I’m forever grateful for them,” said Tess, who grabbed a gold, a silver and a bronze at Madeira 2022. 

“I’m looking forward to Paris after missing Tokyo, it was a tough road to come back from my back injury. I can’t wait. I was never hungrier than to qualify for Paris,” she added.