The Tokyo 2020 Artistic Swimming programme starts today (August 2) in the Japanese capital. Tonight 22 duets are taking part in the preliminary round, while a total of 104 artistic swimmers will take part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, performing their routine over rhythmic music.
10 Teams (Australia, Canada, China,
Egypt, Greece, Italy, Japan, ROC*, Spain, Ukraine) and 22 duets (Australia,
Austria, Belarus, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, France, Great Britain,
Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Netherlands,
ROC*, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, USA) highlight the entries
On the Olympic programme since the
1984 Los Angeles Games, the discipline is highly demanding and allies artistic and
athletics skills. Athletes wear colourful swimsuit and heavy make-up to
accentuate facial expressions.
Amongst the athletes taking part in
the Duet event, some big names are standing out. Defending Olympic champion
Svetlana Romashina who will perform with current World champion Svetlana
Kolesnichenko, representing ROC, Rio 2016 silver medallists and World
championship runner-up China’s Huang Xuechen and Sun Wenyan and Rio silver
medallist Yukiko Inui of Japan pairing with Megumu Yoshi this time, World championships
bronze medallists Marta Fiedina and Anatasiya Savchuk from Ukraine, Canada’s
Claudia Holzner and Jacqueline Simoneau, the Austrian sisters Anna-Maria and
Eirini Alexandri, France’s Charlotte and Laura Tremble and Italy’s Linda
Cerutti and Costanza Ferro who ranked 6th in Rio.
The Team event line-up is equally
impressive with, for example, a strong Ukrainian team composed of Maryna
Aleksiiva, Vladyslava Aleksiiva, Marta Fiedina, Veronika Hrysko, Kateryna
Reznik, Anastasiya Savchuk, Alina Shynkarenko, Kseniya Sydorenko and Yelyzaveta
Yakhno and a Spanish team which includes Ona Carbonell, Abril Conesa, Berta
Ferreras, Mas Pujadas Meritxell, Alisa Ozhogina, Paula Ramirez, Sara Saldana,
Iris Tio and Blanca Toledan.
The Greek girls are also to watch for
with Maria Alzigkouzi Kominea, Eleni Fragkaki, Krystalenia Gialama, Pinelopi
Karamesiou, Danai Kariori, Andriana Misikevych, Evangelia Papazoglou and
Georgia Vasilopoulou part of the team.
With two medal events and two finals,
the Tokyo 2020 Artistic Swimming schedule unfolds as follows (local times):
Monday August 2
19:30 -21:30 Duet Free Prelim
Tuesday August 3
19:30 -21:30 Duet Technical Routine
Wednesday August 4
19:30 -21:30 Duet Free Final
Friday August 6
19:30 -21:30 Team Technical Routine
Saturday August 7
19:30 -21:30 Team Free Final
The scores accumulated in the Duet
Free Prelim and the Duet Technical Routine give access to the best pairs to the
Duet Free Final (12 pairs), while the scores from the Team Technical Routine
will count towards the final results of the Team Free Final.
Let’s take a look at the history of
this discipline.
Russia has been the powerhouse for
many years. Three Russian artistic swimmers have won five Olympic gold medals –
Svetlana Romashina, Anastasia Davydova, and Natalia Ishchenko. Only Romashina
will have the opportunity to add another medal to her champion’s tally in Tokyo
as she will represent the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team. Romashina will
be partnered in the duet by fellow Rio 2016 team gold medallist Svetlana
Kolesnichenko, with whom she also won two world titles in 2019.
Japan and China have also achieved
excellent results over the years. Japan's Takeda Miho and Tachibana Miya have
each won four silver and one bronze medals, while China's Huang Xuechen has won
three silvers and two bronzes.
Michael Phelps Teaches Swimming
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