Russia Wins Gold in Synchronized Swimming Duet with Perfect 10s; Japan Silver, USA Bronze

ATHENS, Greece, August 25. RUSSIA’S super duo of Anastasias, DAVYDOVA and ERMAKOVA, lived up to their favorite status by taking Synchronized Swimming's first gold medal with a score of 99.334, as reported by Athens organizers.

The Russian duet gave an almost faultless, if traditional, exhibition with perfect synchronicity and delicately artistic elements, scoring a perfect 50 (with all five judges giving 10 points) for artistic impression.

Amazingly, the 2003 world champions have been together for four years but have only been working on this routine for the past four months.

The crowd favourites, JAPAN's Miya TACHIBANA and Miho TAKEDA, showed a professionalism that comes only from being together for eight years to take the silver medal, like they did in both Sydney 2000 and at the 2003 World Championships. The pair did a cheeky routine that had the crowd spontaneously applauding and the judges awarding 49.500 for artistic impression and a total mark of 98.417.

Alison BARTOSIK and Anna KOZLOVA (USA) swam a gracious performance with a variety of delicate moves. Although they missed a perfect first high lift, the rest of their routine was enough to earn them the bronze medal with 96.918 points.

Bartosik commented on the Americans’ performance: "Our dance was inspired by Greek mythology. We wanted to play up the Medusa theme. It felt like a medal performance."

Teammate KOZLOVA spoke of their confidence: "It is important not to feel like the underdog, so you can compete against the best teams. I could tell by the coach's face that we did better than yesterday."

The experienced Spanish pair of Gemma MENGUAL and Poala TIRADOS finished fourth after leading for much of the competition with excellent moving rotations, fluid changes in direction and a beautifully choreographed cranes, knights and lateral axis elements.

The Greek team finished ninth, one place better than in 2003 at the Barcelona World Championships. The parochial crowd gave Greece's 34-year-old Christina THALASSINIDOU a fitting finale after a energetic performance with her partner Elftheria FTOULI.

The Team event for Synchronized Swimming begins on Thursday, 26 August at 19.30.

Synchronized Swimming Pool – WED 25 AUG 2004 – Start Time: 19:30

Rank NOC Name Judges Total Pen. 100% Points Free Routine
J1 J2 J3 J4 J5 50% Points Points Behind
1 RUS
DAVYDOVA Anastasia
ERMAKOVA Anastasia
TM
AI 9.9
10.0 10.0
10.0 9.9
10.0 10.0
10.0 10.0
10.0 49.833
50.000 99.833 49.917
2 JPN
TACHIBANA Miya
TAKEDA Miho
TM
AI 9.9
9.9 9.9
9.8 9.8
9.9 9.9
9.9 9.8
9.9 49.333
49.500 98.833 49.417 0.500
3 USA
BARTOSIK Alison
KOZLOVA Anna
TM
AI 9.7
9.7 9.8
9.6 9.7
9.8 9.8
9.8 9.7
9.6 48.667
48.500 97.167 48.584 1.333
4 ESP
MENGUAL Gemma
TIRADOS Paola
TM
AI 9.6
9.8 9.6
9.8 9.6
9.7 9.6
9.6 9.7
9.7 48.000
48.667 96.667 48.334 1.583
5 FRA
DEDIEU Virginie
THIBAUD Laure
TM
AI 9.6
9.8 9.5
9.5 9.7
9.5 9.5
9.4 9.6
9.8 47.833
48.000 95.833 47.917 2.000
6 CAN
LETOURNEAU Fanny
STEWART Courtenay
TM
AI 9.5
9.6 9.6
9.4 9.5
9.7 9.7
9.6 9.5
9.6 47.667
48.000 95.667 47.834 2.083
7 CHN
GU Beibei
ZHANG Xiaohuan
TM
AI 9.4
9.5 9.5
9.1 9.4
9.5 9.4
9.3 9.4
9.5 47.000
47.167 94.167 47.084 2.833
8 ITA
SPAZIANI Beatrice
ZAFFALON Lorena
TM
AI 9.3
9.4 9.2
9.3 9.4
9.4 9.4
9.3 9.3
9.4 46.667
46.833 93.500 46.750 3.167
9 GRE
FTOULI Eleftheria
THALASSINIDOU Christina
TM
AI 9.4
9.3 9.4
9.2 9.3
9.4 9.3
9.2 9.2
9.4 46.667
46.500 93.167 46.584 3.333
10 SUI
BRUNNER Magdalena
SCHMID Belinda
TM
AI 9.3
9.2 9.1
9.1 9.3
9.3 9.1
9.1 9.3
9.3 46.167
46.000 92.167 46.084 3.833
11 UKR
GAYVORONSKA Iryna
YUSHKO Darya
TM
AI 9.2
9.0 9.3
9.0 9.2
9.3 9.3
9.1 9.2
9.2 46.167
45.500 91.667 45.834 4.083
12 BRA
MORAES Carolina
MORAES Isabela
TM
AI 9.2
9.1 9.3
9.3 9.1
9.2 9.2
9.0 9.1
9.1 45.833
45.667 91.500 45.750 4.167

Referee TUDINI Cicci
TSSC

Ass. Referee de DEVONISH Lina
TSSC

Technical Merit Judge 1 ICHIHASHI Harue
JPN

Judge 2 TACKETT Carol
USA

Judge 3 GRAY Jenny
GBR

Judge 4 SAIDOVA Svetlana
UKR

Judge 5 SALERA Sisto
SUI

Artistic Impression Judge 1 BESANCON Marie Claude
FRA

Judge 2 GRAUPERA Hortensia
ESP

Judge 3 ROBERTS Sandra
CAN

Judge 4 LOUTFY Laila
EGY

Judge 5 KRALIKOVA Ivona
CZE

Legend
TM-Technical Merit AI-Artistic Impression
Pen.-Penalty DNS-Did Not Start
DSQ-Disqualified TSSC-Technical Synchronized Swimming Committee
FINA-Fédération internationale de natation

Note:
Approved by the referee.

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