(Adds details, quotes)
By Clara Ferreira-Marques
LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – World champions Russia lived up to
predictions they would cement their dominance of synchronised
swimming at the London Games, claiming the title for duets on
Tuesday with a crisp routine inspired by horror movies and
macabre fairytales.
Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina – in costumes
decorated with puppets, their eyes framed by doll-like eyelashes
– took gold after scoring 98.9 points out of a possible 100 in
the free routine executed for the final.
That marked an improvement on Monday’s already leading score
for the same syncopated sequence and took their total points to
197.1 – more than four points clear of their nearest rivals
Spain and China, who took silver and bronze respectively.
Russians, bringing a tradition of ballet to the pool, have
taken home the Olympic gold for duets since Sydney in 2000,
earning a reputation for seamless execution in a sport that
demands precision, endurance and nerves of steel underneath the
fixed smiles, gelatined hair and often garish costumes.
“We work very hard, we train for up to 10 hours a day, in
the pool, in the gym,” Ishchenko said.
“I don’t want to reveal our secrets, but to be upside down
for this length of time is no joke.”
Russia’s swimmers, favourites even before the Games began,
said they battled in the days leading up to the competition to
focus on their routines and ignore headlines that “hung gold
medals around our necks days before”.
Coach Tatiana Danchenko said the pair would not be resting
on their laurels as duets from China, Spain and even Britain
continue to climb the rankings. Britain was in its first final
for 20 years, jumping from 14th in Beijing to 9th in London.
“(The worst) would be to stay in one place,” Danchenko said.
“Our competition are not asleep, they are preparing, working,
training and they’d like to unseat us.”
A tango-inspired routine, using intricate tilted legwork and
set to one of the dance’s most famous tunes – ‘La Cumparsita’,
led the Spanish duet to silver, retaining the same medal Spain
had won in Beijing four years ago and holding off China.
Veteran swimmer Andrea Fuentes, already a silver medallist
in 2008 for Spain, was dancing with relative newcomer Ona
Carbonell, after her previous partner retired earlier this year.
China’s swimmers, with a dragon routine, came just 0.03
points behind to take bronze and win the country’s first Olympic
medal for the duets, marking its emergence as a contender for
the top.
“We finally built our status within the three strongest
countries in synchronised swimming with this medal,” China’s
Japanese-born coach, Masayo Imura, said. “This time we were just
beaten by the degree of difficulty in this event.”
Russia, which won all seven synchronised swimming golds at
the 2011 world championships, are also favourites to retain the
title in the team segment in London, which begins Thursday.
(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
