Sister act seals trip to London

Heather Maclean joins sibling Brittany on team

MONTREAL— The Maclean sisters of Etobicoke hugged long and hard at the edge of the pool deck, not wanting to let go. It was as if they feared it would all turn out to be a dream.

Well, it is a dream — Heather and Brittany Maclean are going to the 2012 London Olympics together.

Brittany, at 18 the younger sister, earned a berth on the team on the opening night of the Olympic swim trials Tuesday by setting a Canadian record in the women’s 400-metre freestyle. Heather fell short the following night in the 200-metre freestyle, leaving Saturday night’s 100-metre freestyle as her last chance.

She touched the wall in third place behind winner Julia Wilkinson and they had to wait to see if the aggregate time of the top four was fast enough to qualify them as a relay for the Olympics. When they got the green light they’d made it, Maclean started jumping up and down in the water.

As soon as she climbed out, Brittany was there with a huge bear hug.

“I can’t even put it into words right now,” said Heather, who turns 20 on Sunday.

“My sister’s my best friend and we’re going to be doing this journey together.”

For Wilkinson, who is qualified in three events now, watching the Macleans celebrate was emotional because she followed her older sister Jane into swimming.

“We came from Stratford, Ontario, where basically we were the team,” she said. “It was Team Wilkinson. I can’t imagine how awesome it would be for me to have my sister at the Olympics with me because that was her goal.

“It was really only my goal because I wanted to be like her.”