Brother And Sister Curling Team Hope To Sweep Their Way To Olympic Gold

Growing up, siblings Matt and Becca Hamilton ate meals together, played outdoors together, celebrated holidays together ...

Now, they’re sharing an Olympic dream together.

The Hamiltons, of McFarland, Wisconsin, will be going for the gold as the U.S. mixed doubles Olympic curling team.

Mixed doubles curling is one of four new events being introduced at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, according to Reuters.

Matt, 28, and Becca, 27, will also compete separately for the U.S. women’s and men’s teams.

Although the U.S. curling team is only ranked eighth in the world, Matt Hamilton believes he and his sis have a good chance in their opening match on Thursday against fourth-ranked Russia.

They face off against married curlers Anastasia Bryzgalova and Alexander Krushelnitskiy, but Matt suggests the connection he has with Becca is stronger than the bond between their competitors.

“I can’t divorce my sister,” he told Reuters.

Matt started curling 16 years ago, and Becca took up the sport two years later.

“He brought me into the game, so I guess what better partner can I find than someone that brought me up?” she told Inside Edition.

“She couldn’t find a better partner,” Matt quipped.

“I probably could,” his sister shot back.

Snappy patter like that may help the Hamiltons catch the attention of American TV viewers typically more interested in figure skating or ski jumping.

Matt describes the sport ― in which people push a 44-pound “stone” across the ice with a “broom” ― as a mix of shuffleboard, chess and bowling. “Oh, and Swiffering your floor,” he told Inside Edition.

Curling is the longest Winter Olympic contest: The first match starts before Friday’s opening ceremonies and the last game ends just hours before the Olympic torch is extinguished.

That means the Hamiltons will be spending a lot of time together in South Korea, which suits Becca just fine.

“I think it’s kind of come full circle now that Matt kind of got me into curling and has taught me a lot of things along the way,” she told NBC Sports. “So to be doing it at this level is a pretty surreal experience.”