Twins in the Olympics

Already, the Olympic games have been a pleasant diversion from our usual summer routine. It's the first time that my twin daughters have appreciated the games from the perspective of their own athletic endeavors; one plays volleyball and the other basketball. They also enjoy seeing the swimming events, as they both compete on a swim team.

One of the big disappointments of the Beijing games is the absence of the Hamm twins from competition. Both enjoyed great success at the 2004 Athens games, but injuries thwarted their hopes for glory in 2008.

Other interesting twin stories from the Olympic games:

• Janet and Jennie Culp are twin sisters and syncrhonized swimmers. Janet made the Olympic team. Jennie did not.
• Diana Pickler makes her Olympic debut in the Heptathalon. Unfortunately, her twin sister, Julie, didn't qualify.
• Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are 26-year old twin brothers and part of the U.S. rowing team.
• New Zealand rowers Caroline and Georginia Evers-Swindell are another dynamic duo in the double scull event.
• About.com's Guide to Paddling predicts that Slovakian twin brothers Pavel and Peter Hochschorner will win the gold in the C-2 Men’s Slalom Canoe/Kayak event, repeating their 2004 victory.
• Twin boxers Oscar and Javier Molina won't meet in the ring, even though they represent two different countries. Welterweight Javier fights for the United States team while his brother Oscar made the team from Mexico, but didn't qualify to compete at the Olympics.
• Another set of twin boxers, McJoe and McWilliams Arroyo Acevedo, represent Puerto Rico on the U.S. Olympic team.
• Bob and Mike Bryan are a dynamic duo in tennis doubles, and they're looking for gold in 2008.
• Twin sisters WenWen and TingTing Jiang are one of the top synchronized swimming duets in the world, and will also represent China in the team synchronized swimming event.
• Jake Gibb started playing beach volleyball player with his twin brother. I also heard one of the Olympic commentators mention that his family includes another set of twin sisters among the eleven siblings.
Finally, a nod to a member of the U.S. Women's Field Hockey team. Kelly Doton started her career playing ice hockey with her twin brother before moving to the grass as a teenager.

Read more about the 2008 Beijing Olympics at About.com.