They were born together, raced together now the Kingston College’s identical twins — Gianni and Giovouni Henry — both secured 16 CSEC subjects together.

The middle distance stars said despite the difficulty, they both managed to perform well on their exams and are looking forward to Champs 2021.

Gianni Henry, who pulls the rank as the older brother by 10 minutes, was almost two seconds faster than his brother in the Class Two 1500m at Champs in 2019 placing second in 3:57.60 minutes. Giovouni was third with 3:59.09.

Both were well behind Jamaica College’s J’Voughnn Blake, who went close to the record, stopping the clock at 3:55.63.

But in the 800m final a day later, the younger sibling Giovouni stunned both his brother and Blake capturing the gold in a splendid 1:52.10 minutes. Blake was second with 1:52.31 with Gianni, who had a rough passage, basically limped home in fifth with 1:57.38, well off his personal best of 1:53.00.

Those were two memorable races from the last Champs and their attention quickly turned to academics where their competitive nature came to the fore yet again.

Gianni secured eight subjects with five distinctions in mathematics, principles of accounts, principles of business, office administration and physical education. He got twos in Caribbean history, English and human and social biology.

“First and foremost it was difficult. But when you have fiends, coaches, family and teachers who motivate and push you to do your best, both academically and athletically, it becomes a part of your everyday life. My brother and I also create a study timetable to help us study accordingly,” Gianni told the Jamaica Observer.

Giovouni, the Class Two 800m champion, got eight subjects, also with two distinctions in principle of business and physical education. He got five twos in English, human and social biology, office administration, religious education, principle of business and three in French.

“To be honest, it is quite difficult, but as a student athlete I have certain requirement to fulfil and as a recipient of the David ‘Wagga’ Hunt scholarship, I have to strive to achieve my best with hard work,” Giovouni pointed out.

“I have the adequate school materials to make my life easier and I usually try to balance them both by setting a study timetable and giving up going on social media on a regular basis,” he added.

In 2017, before making his winning move in the Class Three 1500m, Giovouni while in second position, looked around and signalled to his brother to follow and that he did. They finished first and third.

Both are looking forward to Champs 2021, having missed out on this year’s edition because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I’m looking forward to Champs 2021 knowing that I didn’t have any in 2020 to lower my personal best so that I will be able to attend a Division One college [in the USA] of my choice when leaving high school,” said Gianni.

“Training is coming on pretty fine knowing we’re just in October. I’m going into my second year of Class One, so without a doubt, I know I’ll be stronger than the previous year. And for fans, they can expect me to score as much points as I possibly can for my school in helping them win Champs if there’s a possible one,” he added.

“My brother and I try to motivate each other a lot in training, along with other teammates due the fact that we are very competitive in training, and as for competition, we know that whenever we go out there to compete, we’re doing it for the both of us and as a result of that we always try to give it our best while staying positive,” added Giovouni.