Paris Olympics 2024: Chinese twins dominate artistic swimming, secure gold in duet event
FRANCE-At the halfway mark of the duet artistic swimming competition at the Paris Olympics on Friday, the twins from Austria and the Netherlands were closely trailing China’s team.
What made the duet event special for China?
The technical routine was dominated by the sibling teams, with a fourth pair of twins from Ukraine placing sixth. China had taken a commanding lead in the team competition on Wednesday, but several couples had a chance to win gold before Saturday’s free routine, with the duet pair only 9.5 points ahead of Austria and others not far behind. With a performance dubbed “Lotus,” the Chinese duo of Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi wowed in multicolored swimsuits in shades of pink and green. As the light and airy tunes started, the twins smoothly glided through the water, one sister supporting the other as she executed a backflip in the water. Score of 276.78 put the routine at the top of the evening. However, in their routine to Queen’s song “We will rock you,” Austria’s two triplets, Anna-Maria Alexandri and Eirini-Marina Alexandri, established a strong tone. As the sisters struck the water in sync with the beat, the audience applauded. With 267.25 points, they are positioned for the silver medal. With 264.7 points, Bregje and Noortje de Brouwer of the Netherlands are ranked third. The twins were swimming to the disco tune of Frank Stallone’s song “Far from over” while decked up in midnight blue swimwear.
Who are the dominant Chinese twins in Paris 2024?
There were moments of tension during Friday’s tournament when the judges went over and over some teams’ performances. The swimmers watched anxiously as they went over the US routine for many minutes. Megumi Field and Jaime Czarkowski’s team finished the evening in eleventh position. On Saturday, after the free routine, the medals for the duet competition will be given out. The twins Wang and de Brouwers, along with the fifth-place finishers Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva from Ukraine, are all related. There are three sisters in the Alexandri set. The swimmers’ performance, artistic interpretation, and overall level of difficulty are evaluated. Five technical components, two extra hybrids, and one pair of acrobatics must all be executed in the two minutes and twenty second performances. As the last act, the Wangs dazzled with a performance they dubbed “lotus.” With a 102.1000, they were the only duo to receive a score higher than 100 for artistic impression. As members of the eight-person Chinese team that won gold on Wednesday night, the twins are already reigning champions in these Games. Additionally, they took home gold in the duet free and duet technical events at the 2022 and 2024 world championships.
How did China secure gold in artistic swimming?
According to sportstar, The Alexandri sisters’ thrilling performance to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” became a crowd favorite. At the 2023 World Championships, the pair won gold in the duet free competition. Vasiliki-Pagona Alexandri, their other sister, is a talented swimmer who frequently participates in solo events. With a 264.0282 score, Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe from Britain came in fourth. At the 2024 World Championships, they took home silver in the duet technical and bronze in the duet free events. Spain’s Alisa Ozhogina Ozhogin and Iris Tio, who took home the bronze in the team competition, came in seventh place with a score of 254.0816, followed by Japan’s Higa Moe and Sato Tomoka in sixth. As per apnews, With a 230.7134, Americans Jaime Czarkowski and Megumi Field who assisted the United States in winning silver in the team event were ranked eleventh. Since 2000, Russia has won the competition at every Olympics. This time, a different nation will win the gold as Russia was barred from competing in Paris following its invasion of Ukraine. In an effort to appeal to a wider audience, the sport’s name was changed from synchronized swimming to artistic swimming in 2017. However, a few people still refer to the alteration as “synchro” since they haven’t really accepted it.
Call to action: Boycott Pairs olympics 2024
During these Olympics, men were permitted to participate in the sport for the first time, but none of them were chosen for a team. Men’s participation chances might be increased by adding a mixed duet team event to the Los Angeles 2028 schedule. In this case many issues were raised about the security of female players. Hence, the government is not concerned about this so this event should be boycotted.
