Just sibling things: Little quarrels. Words unsaid but understood. A look. A gesture.

Bulgarian sisters Gabriela Stoeva and Stefani Stoeva had taken their quarterfinals place from women’s doubles Group B beating USA twins Annie Xu/Kerry Xu – a special occasion in badminton at the Olympics with siblings facing each other. Once they came off court, there was a mutual flash of recognition at how identical their sibling experiences were.

Stefani: “We fight over the smallest things, but after five seconds we are fine again.”

Gabriela: “When we were young you could see it on our faces on camera, and then our parents would call and ask ‘why are you fighting? You are on court.’ So when we go out, we learn to hide it from the camera. We still fight, but we learn to hide it.”

Annie and Kerry Xu nodded in agreement, identifying exactly with what their Bulgarian opponents were talking about.

Annie: “Only we can tell. Even if we fight, it’s for a short while.”

Gabriela: “There are also moments when we don’t have to speak, we just look at each other.”

Annie: “Sometimes you don’t have to say sorry, you just like (tug her skirt).”

Kerry: “The fact we know each other really well is to our advantage, being on the same team. A lot of times with other people you might not necessarily know what they’re feeling just by looking at them, but with her since I know her for so long, whenever I look at her I can kind of tell even if she isn’t saying anything. If she’s nervous maybe I’ll prep her up, shake her up and get her to relax a bit, and she’ll do the same with me without me asking for that.”

Stefani: “I’m maybe more emotional. I take everything too much, but she’s like … ‘no problem’. I’ll be very angry, but she’s like, ‘no problem, life continues’.

“We are fighting all the time but sharing these moments together, because nobody can know, because we are family. I know how she feels all the time, she knows how I feel all the time.”

→ Results