Identical twins aim for Special Olympics gold

Sheri Pursley cried on the ride to Lincoln. (Staci Pursley did not.)

Their mom turned around in the rented van, which was traveling from Parkersburg, W. Va.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

Tell me what's wrong?

I'm just happy I'm going to the Special Olympics, Sheri said.

Sheri is outgoing, gung-ho. Staci is laid-back, more content to sit back and watch.

They watched movies on the portable DVD player on the ride to Lincoln. Sheri brought her favorite, "A Walk to Remember." Staci brought hers, "Dirty Dancing."

Sheri likes Michael Landon. She used to tell people her boyfriend was Little Joe Cartwright. Staci likes Patrick Swayze.

Sheri is an inch and a half shorter. Staci's face is rounder.

Still, they are identical twins, 22 years old. They have Down syndrome.

And each other.

Their parents, Jim and Sheila, have not ever seen a pair of twins like them. A mother of twins with Down syndrome once wrote to Sheila. But they weren't identical.

Identical twins with Down syndrome occur at the rate of 1 or 2 in a million pregnancies, according to the National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register.

"I'm just glad they have each other," Sheila Pursley said Sunday at swim practice at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, where the twins are competing this week in the National Special Olympics Games.

"A lot of times, one has Down syndrome and one doesn't if they are twins. With this, it's definitely a positive thing and a blessing because they always have each other."

Are they best friends?

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

Do they ever fight with each other?

"No."

"No."

"Oh, yes you do!" their mom pipes in.

The twins share a common interest in swimming and a common goal this week -- to win gold.

"What are you always saying, Sheri?" Jim Pursley asked.

"Beat everybody," she answered.

Sheri competes in the 100 backstroke, the 200 backstroke and the 100 butterfly. Staci competes in the 100 freestyle, the 200 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke.

Sheri is not nervous about the competition. But every once in a while, Staci says she is, a little.

They've won more than 100 medals total in Special Olympics, most from swimming. Four years ago at the national games in Iowa, Staci won three golds and Sheri won two golds and a silver.

Many people think they're the same swimmer. Same suits. Same hairstyles.

"There was a funny story at Iowa," Jim said. "I had parents coming up to me in the middle of the week, saying, ‘We didn't know that you had identical twin girls!'

"They said they'd thought, ‘My gosh, that girl has to be tired, swimming all the time.'"

Their personalities are different, Sheila says, yet they do everything together. They're self-sufficient. They help Sheila take care of their big sister's 3-year-old daughter.

Their big sister swam, too, and they cheered.

Sheila was scared of the water as a kid and didn't want any of the girls to be. So they took them to lessons. She and Jim had no idea the twins would be national competitors one day.

Swimming, she said, has helped their self-esteem.

They began swimming at 8. At first, they'd dive into the water from the side of the pool. A few years in, they switched swim programs. A coach saw them dive like that. He was a professor who taught classes on people with intellectual disabilities.

He hollered over.

You get up on those blocks!

Said Sheila: "I'm sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. What's going to happen now?' But he wasn't giving them any limitations. And it was just like everything clicked."

The twins share a room at home. They're sharing a room at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this week in Pound Hall. Saturday was their first night in the dorm. Before the lights went out, they told each other this: I love you.

Their mom smiled.

"I asked them, ‘Did you miss me last night?'

"‘No."