After the first day of solo events, the duet technical event took place today in Budapest’s Varosliget City Park.
The first and the eldest age group of the tournament was the 70-79 category.
The last duet, which was the oldest of the group, was formed by Marjorie Anderson, 75 and Loretta Patterson, 77, the eldest lady in the competition.
Loretta Patterson performed her technical solo routine on Monday August 7 has taken the lead of the ranking.
"I am the oldest, and I am proud of it! They say I am a role model, they look up to me, and I motivate people to swim in older age."
Patterson started synchronised swimming in high school and nowadays she still trains six hours a week.
"I used to love dancing; music and swimming were my thing, as well, so it wasn't difficult to figure out what sport I should take up. In fact, synchronised swimming is the combination of these three. What I hate the most… is when I have to jump into the cold water and do the warm up swim."
The other swimmer from Edmonton AquaMasters, Marjorie Anderson, started synchro swimming about 50 years ago because of the graceful movements. Like her partner, she is also fascinated by the venue and the city of Budapest.
“The City Park is simply amazing, just look at that castle and this incredible view. In Canada we don’t have anything like that. The pools and the water are all good. Budapest is a wonderful city, I wish I could be here for a year because there are a lot of amazing sights across town”.
Both ladies talked about what synchronised swimming meant to them. They both made a lot of friends through this sport and the most remarkable memories of their lives are linked to synchro, as well.
Anderson emphasised how happy she was when she did not have to finish her career after professional competitions.
She concluded by saying:
“This is an excellent sport you can do forever!”.