Tess Routliffe

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, 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. She has a degree in communications and human relations from Concordia University.

Career

Routliffe began competitive swimming at age 14. 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.

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. 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. Her other sister, Tara, played NCAA college volleyball.