Meet the Olympic twins who finished their race at the same time

Twins and German athletes Anna and Lisa Hahner are being criticised for crossing the finishing line during Sunday’s women’s marathon holding hands.

People got quite annoyed with the sisterly display of solidarity:

German marathon runner Anna Hahner hit back at criticism for finishing the Rio Olympic race together with her twin sister, her response coming the same day she was awarded a belated victory from Hanover.

"It is a special coincidence that I‘m getting that news now, the week after the Olympic marathon," Anna Hahner posted on the website she shares with twin Lisa. "A marathon that was one of my toughest physical experiences."

Anna Hahner was promoted to the winner of the Hanover marathon from April this year after first-place finisher Edinah Jerotich Kwambai was deemed by the IAAF governing athletics body to have had an excessive amount of Salbutamol in her system.

Anna and twin sister Lisa came under fire from their own German Athletics Federation (DLV) for crossing the finishing line in Rio last Sunday holding hands in 81st and 82nd place. They finished the 26.2 miles well outside their personal bests and some 20 minutes behind the winner.

"It looked as if they were competing in a fun run and not an Olympic medal event," DLV sports director Thomas Kurschilgen said, saying they were "disrespectful" to other German athletes.

"The critics don‘t accept that we finished side by side after 42.1 kilometres of tough racing against ourselves and the conditions here in Rio," Anna Hahner said. "To make sure that we wouldn‘t have lost a single tenth of a second.

"We held each other hands instead of extending our elbows. We sprinted hand in hand. We didn‘t think but acted how we felt in this moment."