ATHENS, Greece -- U.S. swimmers really mean it when they say the Olympic team feels like family. For Dana and Tara Kirk and Klete and Kalyn Keller, it IS family.
The Kirks are the first sisters to compete on the same U.S. Olympic swim team. Toss in the Kellers, and it's the first U.S. Olympic team with two sets of swimming siblings since 1976.
"I'm looking forward to hanging out with her," said Klete, who at 22 is two years older than his sister.
The U.S. team nearly had three sets of siblings, but Hayley Peirsol finished fifth in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. trials and failed to join older brother, Aaron, on the team.
At the 1976 Montreal Games, Shirley and Jack Babashoff won a combined five medals, while brothers Bruce and Steve Furniss won three medals between them. In 1972, Lynn and Rick Colella made the team, with Lynn winning the only medal.
The Kellers come from an athletic family in Phoenix. Dad Kelly played basketball for Arizona State, mom Karen swam for the Aztecs, and oldest sister Kelsey swam at Washington.
Producing two Olympians never was a goal.
Klete and Kalyn started swimming as kids, with Kalyn usually beating her brother ("I used to get angry about that," he said). Puberty helped him catch up.
"She's a really good workout trainer and she beats a lot of the boys," he said.
Klete won two medals at the 2000 Olympics; Kalyn didn't qualify for those Sydney Games even though she was considered a shoo-in to make the team.
While the rest of the family traveled Down Under to cheer Klete on, Kalyn stayed home. At her mother's insistence.
"I wanted her to experience the Olympics as an athlete rather than a spectator," Karen said. "When she had to sit at home and watch her brother on TV, it really gave her something to strive for and she really wanted to do it. Not letting her go last time was a carrot for her. I thought in my heart that was the best thing."
It was. Kalyn, who attends Southern California, will swim the grueling 400 and 800 freestyles in Athens.
"She'll probably be a little nervous, so I can be there for her," Klete said. "She's worked so hard for all these years."
Not to be outdone, Klete will swim the 200 and 400 freestyles and the 800 freestyle relay.
Are they alike? Hardly.
At 6-foot-6, Klete epitomizes the strong, laconic type, except for one-liners like, "I don't have that big of a vocabulary. I didn't finish college yet."
He stands a foot taller than Kalyn, whose perkiness could give "Today" show host Katie Couric a run for her money.
"He's so laid back and quiet, and she's like a politician," their mother said. "She's very vocal about her goals. With him, everything is a big secret."
The Kirk sisters, who were in the pool at 6 months, grew up on Puget Sound in Bremerton, Wash.
"I've been waiting for this a long time," Dana Kirk said. "It's going to be great having someone there who knows what I need to swim my best."
The sisters were "95 percent sure" they would room together in Athens, according to Dana, who is two years younger than 22-year-old Tara.
"We like to eat the same kind of food and we know what the other needs," she said.
The Olympics is only the second swimming trip the Kirks have been on together.
"We're both going to have to get a lot faster to have medal potential," Dana said. "Tara and I are both competitive, we just push each other a lot."
They each qualified in one event: Dana in the 200 butterfly (she's a long shot); Tara in the 100 breaststroke (she's a medal threat).
As for their personalities - night and day.
Dana is the cuddly Kirk, a bubbly, talkative woman who regularly calls home.
Tara, far more serious, can go stretches without contacting her parents. She recently completed a stellar career at Stanford, and won the Broderick Cup as the nation's collegiate female athlete of the year.
"It helped a lot that we don't swim the same things," Dana said.
Regardless of their medals haul, Karen Keller thinks these siblings will take home special memories no matter what.
"It's a wonderful bond they'll have for the rest of their lives," she said.
