Brittany MacLean, Rio 2016 Bronze Medalist – Guest Speaker at April 2023 Gala
Olympic Bronze Medalist, Rio 2016
Brittany MacLean is a two-time Olympic swimmer from Etobicoke, Ontario, representing our country at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Summer Games. She is a 5-time NCAA Champion and 3-time NCAA Team Champion, while competing for the University of Georgia Bulldogs.
Brittany made her first Canadian senior national team in 2011, the same year that she won four medals at the International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Junior Championships in Peru, including 200m and 400m freestyle gold. At the 2012 London Olympics, she advanced to the 400m freestyle final and she helped Canada’s 4x200m freestyle relay team achieve a fourth-place finish. For these efforts, Brittany was named the 2012 Canadian Junior Female Swimmer of the Year.
In 2013, she finished fourth in her three individual events at the Summer Universiade while winning a pair of relay bronze medals in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle events. She won her first major international individual medal in 2014, capturing the 800m freestyle bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Her breakout season of 2014 continued as she won bronze medals in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Australia, setting Canadian national records in both distances. She was subsequently named Swimming Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year.
That same year, Brittany also had her most successful season at the University of Georgia as she set NCAA records to win the 500-yard and 1650-yard freestyle events while helping the Lady Bulldogs to their second straight national title and earning Swimmer of the Meet honours at the NCAA Championships.
Despite an earlier injury, Brittany qualified for the 2015 Pan Am Games where she won bronze as the anchor of the 4x200m freestyle relay team and just missed a podium finish in the 800m freestyle.
At the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio, Brittany swam the third leg for Canada’s 4x200m relay team that won a bronze medal in national record time, and she also posted a fifth-place finish in the 400m freestyle individual event. Now retired from competition, she still holds the
Canadian record in the 800m and 1500m freestyle distances.
Currently, Brittany works as Program Manager of Athlete Marketing and Olympian Legacy at the Canadian Olympic Committee. On the weekends, you may recognize her voice as she has worked with CBC as an On-Air Analyst and Colour Commentator on the network’s Olympic and National Swimming Coverage.