Olympic Games will be a family affair as eight sets of siblings including three sets of twins are set to compete for medals with Team GB in Tokyo
There will be a massive family influence at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as eight pairs of siblings will compete for medals for Team GB this summer.
Three sets of twins make up the eight sibling duos who will compete in athletics, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, rowing and swimming.
It marks a new record for Team GB, after six sets of siblings were selected for the 2016 Olympics held in Rio.
There will be eight pairs of siblings representing Team GB including Pat and Luke McCormack in the boxing
Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova will take part in gymnastics and one of three sibling pairs
Twins Simon and Adam Yates will represent Team GB in cycling at the Tokyo Games
As reported by the Daily Mirror, there will also be a ninth set of siblings on the plane to Japan, as Harry Martin – brother of women’s hockey player Hannah Martin – is a reserve for the men’s team and could still end up competing.
Making up the twin pairs this summer are the Gadirovas, McCormacks and Yates’.
Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova both compete in gymnastics, Luke and Pat McCormack will take part in boxing while Adam and Simon Yates will be going for gold in cycling.
Max and Joe Litchfield are the third pair of siblings to compete at the Games in swimming
Mathilda Hodkings-Bryne (left) and her sister Charlotte (second from right) will take part in the rowing
Brother and sister Tom and Emily Ford will also be involved in rowing at the Olympics
Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne and Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne along with Tom and Emily Ford will appear in the rowing.
Both Tiffany Porter and Cindy Sember, and Hannah and Jodie Williams compete in athletics, while Joe and Max Litchfield will both make their Olympic appearances in the swimming pool.
The siblings will look to follow in the path of seven others who have taken medals at a Summer Games in the past.
Tiffany Porter and sister Cindy Sember (left) and Hannah and Jodie Williams (right) will feature in the athletics
Pat McCormack, the reigning Commonwealth champion, told the Mirror: ‘It’s unbelievable – I went by myself to Rio last time and it’s time for the twins to take over Tokyo.
‘Both going to the Olympics will be unbelievable. It’s much better having him with us – we’ve been all around the world fighting together.
‘We like to have fun, but as soon as we get to these tournaments there’s a little switch that we switch on.’
There have been seven sets of siblings in Team GB history who have won medals at the Olympic Games.
Alistair and Jonny Brownlee were the most recent of which in the triathlon event, with Alistair holding two gold medals from 2012 and 2016 while his younger brother has claimed a bronze and a silver at the same Games.