Penn’s Isabella Whittaker and sister Juliette are living out a childhood dream of being Olympians

Isabella and Juliette Whittaker have always been two of a kind. Growing up, the sisters from Laurel, Md., shared a room until college, had similar friend groups, and competed in the same sports.

“She’s definitely a copier — she just loves to do whatever I do,” joked Isabella, who’s two years older than Juliette. “We kind of did have the tendency to do the same things together. We did soccer back when we were young. We tried gymnastics for a year, and then we started swimming. It’s funny we did that at the same time, too.

“The older we’ve gotten, the closer we’ve actually become.”

Their final sports venture was in high school on the track, where they became nationally ranked in their respective classes. From there, they carved separate paths.

Isabella, who recently graduated from Penn, has broken multiple program and Ivy League records in the 400-meter dash. Juliette, a standout in the 800, finished her sophomore year at Stanford, where she won the NCAA indoor distance medley relay championship.

Now, they’ll live out a dream they’ve sought since they were little. In June, they attended their second U.S. track and field Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore. This time, they left as Olympians.

Juliette finished third in the 800 final, securing the last Olympic roster spot in the event. Isabella qualified for the 4x400 relay pool after placing sixth in the 400 final. The two are the first siblings to make a U.S. Olympic track and field team since 2000, when sisters Joetta Clark Diggs and Hazel Clark made the Olympics in the 800.

“That’s always been the goal,” Isabella said. “Juliette and I have been watching the Olympics for ages. My family is really into it. I remember during the 2016 Olympics, we did a fake Olympics with my extended family, where we broke up into teams and competed in a bunch of events. It was actually crazy, literally unhinged.

“To make the Olympic team in itself is a crazy feat, but then to do it with your sister — the minute I called her, we’re like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to be roommates again,’ we’re doing everything together. It’s coming full circle, and to share it with her is so unique.”

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Initially, Isabella, who has signed with Arkansas for next year, didn’t believe that the 2024 Olympics were in the cards. She thought her big moment would come in 2028. During her sophomore year, she suffered a severe back injury that kept her off the track for months. She struggled with her mental health and couldn’t train at full strength.

However, her college coaches had seen something in Isabella since she arrived on Penn’s campus in 2020.

At Mount De Sales Academy, Isabella was a late bloomer in the sport, she said. As a junior, she developed into a nationally ranked athlete and caught the attention of Penn and other Ivy schools. However, during her first couple of months of college, she moved back to Maryland because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She looked at it as a blessing in disguise and trained under her dad, Paul, who ran at Georgetown and also coached Juliette.

Meanwhile, Juliette was making a name for herself. She ended her high school career as the national outdoor record holder in the 800, won bronze at the under-20 World Championships, and qualified for the Olympic trials in 2021.

“You could tell that she was going to have a really successful career,” Isabella said. “It was helpful to train together, because there are a lot of things about Juliette that I really look up to and find inspiring, and vice versa. We got to understand what breaks us, what makes us, and the day-to-day grind. It was honestly nice to be home and have that extra bit of training time with her.”

Even with a short 2021 outdoor track season, Isabella ran Penn’s second all-time times in the 200 and 400 and clinched a berth in the NCAA championships in the 400. She then qualified to compete at the Olympic trials, where she and Juliette had the chance to reconnect on the track.

“From freshman year, I knew she was special,” said Penn associate women’s track and field coach Chené Townsend. “The first thing I noticed was her capacity to do the work I was giving her that she shouldn’t have been able to do. That’s when I was like, ‘OK she’s really talented and this is going to be a good four years, if we can make it work.’”

The stress fracture in her back cropped up at the end of her freshman year while she was competing at nationals and trials. She continued her training, but the pain was getting worse. Entering her second year at Penn, Isabella knew she needed to prioritize recovery.

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During those seven months off, she worked out in a pool and started to see a sports psychologist, who helped her get to a place where she felt like her old self. It took time to see the results like those of her freshman year, and it made the comeback her senior season even better.

Townsend has been saying all year that Isabella was “Olympic bound.” During the indoor season, she broke the 400-meter Ivy League all-meet record that had stood since 1990 with a time of 51.69 seconds. Then she did it again at the NCAA outdoor championship, when she ran a personal-best 50.17 seconds to finish sixth.

She proved that she’s one of the best 400-meter runners in the nation, and her next stop was the Olympic trials.

“I kept reassuring her that we didn’t happen to get here — we are supposed to be here.” Townsend said. “You deserve to be here. You can make this happen. Just being able to talk to her in that way and have her acknowledge that was amazing.”

The moment Isabella found out she made the relay pool for the Olympics serves as a reminder of everything she worked toward. Her coach delivered the news while she was in the airport coming home from Oregon. She did a “quiet scream” and tried to hold back tears of excitement.

But it’s only the beginning. After college, Isabella plans to turn professional and hopes to sign a sponsorship deal that will make her “feel super valued and be seen.” Then it’s all about the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

“I‘m really proud of who I’ve become and the type of athlete I am now,” she said. “I always used to say when I was struggling in not believing in myself that I need to believe in the Bella that my family believed in. I want to be one of the best runners in this country. I feel like that’s definitely in the cards for me.”

Townsend added: “To see them both come back three years later and rise above all the obstacles that they faced is amazing. Juliette didn’t make it to the final the last time, and now she’s in the top three. Bella didn’t make it out of the first round, and now she came sixth in the final.

“Their future is extremely bright. I think Isabella’s going to be a big part of the future of what USA Track and Field is going to look like in her event. She is still so untapped. She has a lot of talent, and her ceiling is still very high, even though she’s achieved so much.”