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Be it a fierce connection or age-old rivalry, siblings will be showing up in big numbers at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with nearly 30 sets of siblings competing.
We’ve already seen Japan’s brother and sister Abe Hufimi and Abe Uta claim gold medals in Judo on the same day in their respective finals, along with Croatian brothers Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic winning gold in the rowing men’s pair final on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Team USA has seven pairs of siblings and Team Great Britain has nine pairs, who are competing across sports.
British twin sisters Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova have already scored a bronze at the women’s gymnastics team final. They are also in competition against twin sisters from Italy and the Netherlands. Meanwhile, a pair of Russian twins will compete in rhythmic gymnastics.
Croatia has another set of brother competing in sailing, along with a pair of Turkish siblings.
The pool events will also see a number of siblings competing, with French twins in synchronized swimming, Austrian sisters in duet synchronized swimming and two Australian sister competing in their respective events, along with a brother and sister from Cape Verde.
Spain’s men’s basketball team has a pair of brothers — Pau and Marc Gasol have three NBA titles between them — and the triathlon will see a Kiwi brother and sister compete in their respective events as well.
How is this happening?
Well, nobody knows for sure. But many of these athletes have spoken about their journey in the sport and a lot of them have described their sibling’s influence in getting them started. Some of them were also trained by their athlete parents. Maybe nobody wants to miss out on the primary kitchen table discussions.