BEIJING — Former LSU swimmer Heather Brand will fulfill her Olympic dream Saturday morning when she represents her native country of Zimbabwe at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Brand, who swims and coaches for King Aquatic Club in Seattle, Wash., is scheduled to swim out of Lane 8 in the third heat of the 100-meter butterfly preliminaries at approximately 9:07 a.m. CST. Day 1 of the swimming prelims can be seen on WVLA-TV (Channel 33 in Baton Rouge) beginning at 2:30 p.m. CST.
The former Lady Tiger All-American is one of two swimmers who will compete for Zimbabwe at the Olympics. National icon Kirsty Coventry, who became the country’s first Olympic medalist in the sport of swimming at the 2004 Athens Games, joins Brand in Beijing.
Brand, who has chased the Olympic dream since she was eight years old, was given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to swim on the world’s largest stage after a sensational performance at the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algeria. She won seven medals at that meet and registered an Olympic qualifying time of 1 minute, 00.61 seconds in the 100m fly.
“To be able to stand in an arena with world-class champions and call myself a world-class champion, it’s a very overwhelming, beautiful thing,” said Brand.
“I created the world that I wanted. I wanted to go to the Olympic Games, and I did everything I could to make my dream come true. Now, it is actually becoming a reality.”