Brazil's twin synchronized swimmers heat up the Olympics

Record ID: 90154

  • Title: Brazil's twin synchronized swimmers heat up the Olympics
  • Date: 20th August 2016
  • Summary: CLOSE-UP OF OLYMPIC RINGS NECKLACE WORN BY ONE OF THE SIMMERS
  • Embargoed: 4th September 2016 19:05
  • Keywords: Olympics Rio Brazil Feres Synchronized swimmers
  • Location: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • City: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Olympics,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA0024VXJVPB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A pair of twin Brazilian synchronized swimmers are blowing up the 2016 Rio Olympics and bringing more attention to their sport with their social media presence.
    On Saturday (August 20) Bia and Branca Feres told Reuters they hoped to use their platform to set a good example for young girls around the world, but especially in their home country of Brazil.
    The pair competed with the Brazilian synchronized swimming team, placing 6th in Rio with a score of 84.7985, 12.2121 points behind gold medal winners Russia with 97.0106 points.
    All the same, the smiling duet said they were satisfied with their result and that they might have achieved a life-long goal.
    "We started doing synchronized swimming when we were 7-years-old because we wanted to be just like Ariel, The Little Mermaid," Bia said, with Branca jumping in to finish her sister's sentence.
    "And now we got even closer; I think we reached becoming mermaids," added Branca.
    With 429,000 Instagram and 112,000 Twitter followers as of Saturday afternoon, the swimmers told Reuters they hoped to show kids that if you work hard you can achieve your goals.
    "You know, we do this because we like it and we are TV hostesses too. So we kind of post everything about our lives. And we want to be a good example. People like us. I want to show my life and show my routine to children so that they have someone to look to and like, 'Oh my God, she's a hard worker, she's nice, she's a good daughter…" Bia said.
    "Yeah, it was very nice to be in the Olympics and when we were going into the crowd to see our family, a lot of children came to us and this makes me very proud of what I do… swimming," said Branca.
    "We want to kind of send a message," Bia concluded.
    When asked if the fixation on the physical appearance of the 28-year-old models got in the way of their message, the twins said it was just part of who they are.
    "Like all women in the world, we like to feel pretty," said Bia.
    "We work as models too so we have a lot of photos of jobs and …" Branca said.
    "We like to post that too," Bia finished.
    The athletes said they hoped the Olympics would shine a spotlight on their sport and interest more people to take up synchronized swimming in Brazil and beyond.
    They also said they hoped the Olympics would consider allowing men to compete in mixed duets come Tokyo 2020.
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