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Feature: Agentina's Olympic skiing family

2010-02-21 10:37 BJT

Special Report: 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games |

Two extremely similar faces are representing the same country in the Alpine skiing competitions. But they are not twin sisters. We take a closer look at the skiiers from Argentina.

Argentina's Maria Belen Simari-Birkner gestures to her sister Macarena after crashing during the slalom portion of the Women's super combined at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
Argentina's Maria Belen Simari-Birkner gestures to her sister Macarena
after crashing during the slalom portion of the Women's super combined
at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia, Thursday,
Feb. 18, 2010.(AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

This is 27-year-old Argentine skier, Maria Belen Simari Birkner, and - don't mistake her for this one - the younger sister, Macarena Simari Birkner. They belong to the same family whose three children accounted for all of Argentina's top-30 finishes in Turin in 2006. They are among Argentina's seven competitors sent to Vancouver. This time, it's the twin-like sisters' faces that first drew the audiences attention.

It seems that the sisters not only have a close bond with each other, but also with their compatriots. Its what the Olympics are all about isn't it?

Editor: Zhang Ning | Source: CCTV.com