Their eight pairs of lean legs batting out of the water in the form of praying hands, Russia’s synchronised swimming team swept to their fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal on Friday.
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The victory puts the Russian gold medal tally for the Games at 13, with a total of 46 medals won overall.
The Russians came into the event as the overwhelming favourites and they did not disappoint, scoring a total of 196.1439 points, which included two flawless 10’s from the judges.
Russian Federation performed its routine to dramatic string music, wearing costumes depicting angel wings. With this win, 2016 duet gold medalists Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina won their fifth career gold medals, tying the record for most gold synchronized swimming medals ever with their former teammate Anastasia Davydova. “We said to each other that we wanted to have five medals, like the Olympic rings”, said Romashina. It’s hard to match the country’s combination of top training facilities, state funding and choreography experience drawn from the Russian ballet tradition.
The final scores weren’t even close. Japan captured the bronze medal, edging Ukraine, competing in their first Olympics to a spellbinding “magic box” themed free routine, by 0.5976 points.
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“We cried after the performance, you could say we were bawling, because we understood perfectly that we executed our programme well”, she said. “The female athletes in classical duets perform on a higher level”. Team Russia (RUS) celebrates winning gold with their medals.
