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.
A total of 104 female artistic swimmers will take part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, performing their routine over rhythmic music (as listed below).
TEAMS (8 athletes per team) |
DUETS |
Australia Canada China Egypt Greece Italy Japan ROC* Spain Ukraine |
Australia Austria Belarus Canada China Colombia Egypt France Great Britain Greece Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Liechtenstein Mexico Netherlands ROC* South Africa Spain Ukraine USA |
*Russian Olympic Committee
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 inclues 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 Elli Lela Kominea Alzigkouzi, 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.