FREESTYLE - SKI HALFPIPE: It will be a case of split loyalties for the Sheehan siblings in the Ski Halfpipe at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

On 18 February, Lyndon Sheehan, 25, will represent New Zealand in the men's event. While he was born in Australia, Lyndon has lived in New Zealand's South Island town of Wanaka since he was seven, so his move to represent his adopted home was not surprising.

Two days later, however, his older sister Amy Sheehan, 27, will compete in the women's event for Australia, opting to compete for the country of her birth in the event's Olympic Winter Games debut.

Amy is rated as a serious medal contender, having finished third overall in the 2014 World Cup standings after consecutive podium finishes in Calgary and Breckenridge. While Lyndon has not excelled as much, he did finish fourth at the 2013/14 season-opening World Cup at home in New Zealand.

The instance of siblings competing at the same winter Games for different countries is not rare.

It happened three times at Vancouver 2010: brothers Jan Schmid (NOR) and Tommy Schmid (SUI) both competed in the Nordic Combined, while biathlete Anastasia Kuzmina won gold for Slovakia in the 7.5km sprint and younger brother, Anton Shipulin, won bronze with Russia in the 4x7.5km relay. In Figure Skating, brother and sister Chris and Cathy Reed competed in the ice dance for Japan, while their younger sister Allison Reed performed in the same event for Georgia alongside Japaridze Otar.