Venus Williams v Serena Williams and other Sibling Rivalry in Sports
Even though it is uncommon, sometimes siblings can be seen in sports. It is even more uncommon to see two of them playing against each other but it does happen. A few examples can be seen in major sports today; from tennis to football. The interesting thing about siblings playing sports is that they are usually equally as good as each other. Genes play a part in this and so does conditioning. True sibling rivalries can be seen when siblings encounter each other on the sports field.
Siblings that play the same sport are not very common but if asked people could come up with a few examples. Yesterday during the first round of the FIFA World Cup, Ghana played against Germany. What was interesting about this match was the fact that two brothers were playing on either side. On the German side was Jerome Boateng and on the Ghanean side was Kevin-Prince Boateng. These two half brothers became part of foot-balling history yesterday by becoming the first brothers ever to face each other on opposing teams. This just shows the increasing amount of immigration taking part in football, that two brothers can be on two different international teams.
The greatest tennis sibling rivalry has to be the Williams sisters. Both Serena and Venus Williams play professional tennis and both are extremely skilled and have won many championships. Venus Williams has many titles, six grand slams to be exact to her name, while her sister Serena has won 8 grand slam victories during her career. These two are so good that sometimes it comes down to them playing against each other for the title of a grand slam after they have defeated everyone else. This is sibling rivalry at its best. They are just as skilled at the game as each other and have comparable talents although Serena might be a little bit better than her sister, but that is a personal choice.
Boxing is also seeing the emergence of two brothers vying for all kinds of titles. The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir are two of the greats in the sport currently. The older brother Vitali is at the moment the WBC Heavyweight Champion while his younger brother Wladimir is the current IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine Heavyweight Champion. One has to wonder what will happen if these two powerful fighters ever had to face each other, it would be a real fight between brothers, a lot more violent than siblings going at it at the annual family Christmas dinner.
The fact that many siblings go into the field and choose the same career is not that uncommon. People will often see siblings who are both scientists, both bankers, and actors or musicians or both sports stars. The reason for this seems to be genes. We all inherit 50% of our genes from our father and 50% of them from our mother. Siblings all have 50% of the same genes as each other and that is why they are often times so similar and choose the same career. If one parent is an athlete or even better if both parents are athletes, then both siblings have a high chance of becoming athletes themselves. The difference in gene allocation and upbringing are reasons why sometimes one sibling is a little bit better than the other one. Parents always try to give their children equal treatment but sometimes they just cannot and so one child develops certain abilities over its siblings. This does not mean that it is only genes that account for how good siblings are at a sport but they are a big factor in its determination.
We will continue to see more siblings featuring in the same sport and playing against each other. This fact is compounded by just how many people who are in the same field are having kids; Stefi Graf and Andre Agassi are an example for tennis. Their kids will likely be big tennis stars in the future. The sibling rivalries will continue and will be around to entertain us fans for many years to come.
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