Eight-year-old Northwest Territories twins take on NAIG 2023

They’re eight years old with rivals aged up to 14, but Mairi and Marin Rutherford-Simon have enough energy that their competitors might want to look over their shoulders.

When they do, those athletes will think they’re seeing double.

The Rutherford-Simons are identical twins, Métis sisters born 11 minutes apart. They are the youngest athletes on the Northwest Territories team for the 2023 North American Indigenous Games and are understood to be the youngest entrants in this week’s swimming events in Halifax.

A medal in their favourite event – the 200m freestyle – is a long shot. But for athletes like Mairi and Marin, that isn’t really the point.

“This means a lot. It’s such a fantastic event to experience at such a young age,” said their mother, Lori, outside the Dalhouse University swimming pool where the team held its first training session on Monday.

“Their older sister is coaching, their dad is coaching and their brother is playing,” she added, referring to soccer coaches Bronwyn and Chris and soccer player Ferghus respectively.

“We all get to see each other. This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Despite the family atmosphere, the twins had to work hard to earn a place on the NWT team, for which Lori praised coach Tyree Mullaney.

But Mairi said they aren’t driven by an intense sibling rivalry in the way some family units are.

“If one of us wins, then we both win,” she said as the sisters performed gymnastics moves on a Dalhousie lawn.

Yes, people confuse the two of them. They casually pointed out their own mother had mixed them up that very morning, and Marin said a fellow student once thought one of them must be a hologram.

But they also lean into that, struggling to come up with an answer when asked what their differences are.

“What’s different about us is my finger that I need to get checked,” said Mairi, pointing to a minor injury.

“And my foot,” said Marin, referring to foot surgery she had when she was younger.

“She doesn’t like basketball,” Marin added. “Says who?” Mairi shot back.

The twins aren’t the only young athletes on the NWT swim team.

Hayden Wray and Siné Norn, both 11, buzzed with enthusiasm after Sunday’s opening ceremony in the company of more than 20 other Indigenous teams from across Canada and the United States.

“It was really fun to trade all your pins with people,” said Siné, picking out Manitoba and New Mexico as teams that particularly caught her eye.

“It’s very different. I’ve done swim meets before, but nothing like this.”

“It was amazing to see that many people,” said Hayden. “It’s cool that I get to compete with all different Indigenous people and I get to do this at such a young age.”

Training for the swim team concludes on Tuesday, with the competition running through Wednesday and Thursday.

In Monday’s opening day of action in Halifax, the NWT’s male soccer team briefly led Ontario through an Ian Cayen goal before the province came back to win 5-1.

The NWT’s female volleyball team beat Nunavut by two sets to one but the male team lost in straight sets to Saskatchewan.

In basketball, the NWT’s male team was defeated 73-41 by Saskatchewan. The female team lost 61-9 to Manitoba.