Another Olympic event, another controversy and more athletes having to answer for their “crimes.”

But German twins Anna and Lisa Hahner have nothing on the antagonists we’ve seen emerge in Rio such as Islam El Shehaby, the Egyptian judo athlete who was sent home for refusing to shake his Israeli opponent’s hand, and soccer goalie Hope Solo, who was heavily criticized for calling the Swedish team “cowards” after the US was upset in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks.

Nonetheless, the Hahner sisters are feeling the wrath of their country for crossing the finish line of Sunday’s women’s marathon hand-in-hand. Germany has no tolerance for athletes turning an Olympic race into “a fun run.”

“Victory and medals are not the only goal,” German Athletics Federation director Thomas Kurschilgen said in an email to the New York Times on Tuesday. “Still, every athlete in the Olympic competitions should be motivated to demonstrate his or her best performance and aim for the best possible result.”

The smiley finish reaffirmed what Kurschilgen might have suspected anyway after the Hahners finished the race in 81st and 82nd place, disappointing results for marathoners who usually race 15 minutes faster. The so-called publicity stunt also overshadowed a better performance from a fellow German, Anja Scherl, who placed 44th.

“Their main aim was to generate media attention,” Kurschilgen added. “That is what we criticize.”

In the sisters’ first statement since the incident, Anna Hahner seemed incredulous that her countrymen would assume the sisters’ actions had an ulterior motive.

“In all the marathons we ran together before, there was a point in the race we had to split up,” Anna said in an email to the New York Times. “This was also the case in the Olympic marathon. … I invested all I had and 300 meters before the finish line, I was next to Lisa. It was a magical moment that we could finish this marathon together. We did not think about what we were doing.”

Strangely enough, the Hahner twins had unexpected companions on Sunday in North Korea’s twin marathoners Kim Hye-song and Kim Hye-gyong, who finished 10th and 11th with an identical time of 2:28.36.

Another conspiracy or a freaky coincidence? Your call, Germany.