Athletes at the upcoming Winter Olympics could be seeing triple.
Henniyah, Helaina and Henri Rivers are 18-year-old triplets from Long Island, New York, who hope to represent their mother’s native country of Jamaica in alpine skiing in the upcoming Winter Games in Milan Cortina.
“We do everything together,” Henniyah Rivers told Craig Melvin in an interview with her siblings that aired Wednesday on "TODAY."
“Even when it’s, like, annoying, we still love each other so much and we’re each other’s best friends,” Helaina Rivers said.
The trio has its sights set on becoming the first triplets to compete in the same Winter Olympics. The siblings say they would love the opportunity to compete together.
“It would mean a lot,” Henri Rivers said. “I use my sisters as motivation towards skiing, because without them I really wouldn’t be the skier who I am today.”
“I don’t want to do it by myself, so I would rather have them with me,” Henniyah Rivers said.
Their parents are ski instructors, which gave them an early look at the sport. The triplets began racing when they were 5, and Henniyah and Henri competed in 2024 at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea.
“They were exposed to snow and the outdoors before they turned 1,” mom Karen Rivers said.
“She was racing with them in her belly,” dad Henri Rivers III said.
Jamaica’s claim to fame in the Winter Olympics is the bobsled team that was chronicled in the John Candy movie “Cool Runnings.” The country didn’t have an alpine skier in the Winter Olympics until 2022. The Rivers triplets say it’s part of an overall lack of diversity in the sport, with them noting there have been many times they felt like they didn’t belong.
“We weren’t really seeing other athletes of color around us, so that’s one thing that we really had to learn how to navigate,” Helaina Rivers said. “And it’s still hard, but it’s gotten easier as we’ve gotten older.”
The siblings also believe they are setting the stage for other athletes from the Caribbean to compete in winter sports.
“Years down the line, there will be Nordic skiers for Jamaica. I believe it,” Henniyah Rivers said.
The siblings also say it’s important to understand the magnitude of possibly taking part in the Olympics.
“There are times where you’re walking and then you say it in your head and you’re just, like, ‘Wait, like, this is insane,’” Helaina Rivers said.
