Double Olympic gold medallists and three-time world rowing champions Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell have announced their retirement after almost a decade at the top of the sport.
In August the sisters defended their Athens Olympic success with an amazing win in Beijing, the first time in history that the women's double scull title has successfully been retained and one of the closest in the history of the Games.
The Evers-Swindells were world champions for the first time in Seville in 2002 and won again the next year in Milan and again in 2005 in Gifu.
After difficult seasons in 2006 and 2007 - when the Hawkes Bay twins still won world bronze and silver medals - they entered 2008 as outsiders in Beijing but completed the Olympic defence with a final that had the nation on the edge of its seat.