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Photo a day from Sochi: Switzerland's Gasparin Sisters

The sweetest threesome in Sochi are the Gasparin sisters. Aita, who turned 20 just days ago, Elisa, 23, and Selina, 29, make up three quarters of the Swiss women's relay and don't seem to go anywhere without their phones/tablets/cameras.
biathlon gasparin sisters
Aita and Elisa Gasparin celebrate their older sister, Selina, as she steps on the podium as the sliver-medallist in the women's 15km individual at the Laura Biathlon Center on Feb. 14.

 

The sweetest threesome in Sochi are the Gasparin sisters.

Aita, who turned 20 just days ago, Elisa, 23, and Selina, 29, make up three quarters of the Swiss women's relay and don't seem to go anywhere without their phones/tablets/cameras. For moments like these, you can't blame them.

Selina won silver in the women's 15km individual race on Friday. 

biathlon gasparin

 

I wrote about the sisters this week because theirs is a fantastic story. Selina, ranked a career-best 10th on the world cup this season, was at most an outside shot that no one predicted would win a medal in this event.

She could hardly process the results and marvelled instead at her flawless 20-for-20 output at the shooting range. In 65 attempts, it was the first time she'd done that in her decade-old career.

(A reporter also asked her what she thought of Switzerland's anti-immigration laws, and she replied, grinning back at the fool, "You ask me about politics? I ski and shoot.")

Still, she's no bystander. Selina laid the first tracks that led to the Swiss women's biathlon team. She rightfully called herself a pioneer.

She built shooting ranges around the country, including one that needed permission from a neighbouring farmer and a promise the target practice wouldn't trouble his horses. She toiled far from home and lost connection with her sisters, especially Aita, who was six when Selina left home as a teenager. 

Her sisters picked up her trail and followed her into the sport. All three are competing at the Sochi Games and on Friday their parents were in the stands for their oldest daughter's silver-medal race.

I ran up and down the stands, searching for their parents. When I finally found them, their father was speechless. He couldn't say a word to me and barely got out a sentence to Elisa who'd offered to translate.

His daughter had just become the first woman to win his country a medal in biathlon.