The Harbaughs: the latest great sporting siblings

The Baltimore Ravens’ upset win over the New England Patriots in Massachusetts on Sunday night not only allowed Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh to exact revenge for a painful loss there at the same stage last season.

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. Photo: Flickr, Keith Allison

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh. Photo: Flickr, Football Schedule

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It also meant he would take his side to arguably the biggest game in sport – the Super Bowl. Their opponents? The San Francisco 49ers, coached by a certain Jim Harbaugh.

For the Harbaugh brothers’ parents (continuing the alliterative theme, their names are Jack and Jackie), this squabble, in what has already been dubbed the “HarBowl”, could be hard to contain.

But it is hardly the first time siblings have lined up against each other on the biggest stage of all:

Venus and Serena Williams

It must be hard to be upstaged by your younger sibling, but that is what Venus, herself a legend of the sport, has had to endure. Serena, younger by a year and three months, has won 15 grand slams to her sister’s seven, and has triumphed in six of their eight encounters in grand slam finals. But they get on well enough as perhaps the most successful doubles pairing of all time, adding a third Olympic gold to their collection at London 2012.

Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee

The sight of the Yorkshire brothers sharing the top step of the London 2012 triathlon podium warmed the hearts of Team GB fans, after a hard-fought triathlon in which Alistair, the elder brother, won gold, with Jonathan claiming bronze (after collapsing at the finish, much to his brother’s obvious dismay) behind Javier Gomez of Spain.

Jonny was then crowned world triathlon champion in New Zealand in October, although Ali was unable to take part.

Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko

When Wladimir, the younger by nearly five years, beat Britain’s David Haye in July 2011, it ensured the Ukrainian brothers held all four major belts – those of the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO – between them. Vitali is often regarded as a better fighter than Wladimir, but the theories will not be substantiated: the brothers have vowed never to fight one another.

Others

To be honest, these were pretty much the first three pairs of siblings who came into my head when thinking about sporting success. Since, I’ve thought of a few more who might deserve a paragraph or two of their own:

Steve and Mark Waugh

Michael and Ralf Schumacher

Peyton and Eli Manning

Bobby and Jack Charlton

Rory and Tony Underwood

Mauro and Mirco Bergamasco?

Gavin and Scott Hastings??

BBC Sports Personality of the Year: vote David Weir

The importance, or otherwise, of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, is up for debate, particularly in a year of almost unprecedented British sporting success.

But I might as well make my pick. I think Alastair Cook is unlucky to miss out on a place in the shortlist of 12, although his big achievement was after the shortlist was announced. Having said that, though, I would have to choose an Olympian or Paralympian, which rules out Rory McIlroy.

Mo Farah and Jess Ennis have rightly been lauded for their remarkable success in August, but I am more inclined to someone who hasn’t been in the media spotlight all year anyway. For that somewhat illogical reason, two of the favourites, Bradley Wiggins and Andy Murray, are also ruled out of getting my vote.

I would hate to belittle the incredible success of Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds and Ben Ainslie, but they have already had so much success their golds this time almost feel like par for the course. Nicola Adams is a real personality, true, but I don’t reckon she deserves the nod above the rest of the competition.

So my top three would be:

• 3rd: Katherine Grainger – a stalwart of British rowing for years, and one who had got so close before but never quite managed Olympic gold. This year she finally changed that.
• 2nd: Sarah Storey – a five-time Paralympic swimming gold medallist, she added four more cycling golds to her two from Beijing in London. She cantered to victory in all of her races over the various distances, making all of her events look almost embarrassingly easy
• 1st: David Weir – not just because he was the only one of the 12 I saw win over the summer, for two of his four gold medals in four events, in distances ranging from 800m to the marathon. He won the marathon despite confessing to feeling exhausted early on and visibly fading during the first lap or two. And most of all, perhaps Weir was the single athlete who allowed the British public to get as engaged with the Paralympics as much as they did with the Olympics (people were talking about him on the Tube in the same way they were Farah and Ennis).