The Australian Olympic Committee announced on May 31 the eight athletes who will represent the country in the artistic swimming events at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Tokyo Olympians Carolyn Rayna Buckle and Kiera Gazzard return for their second Games and will lead the squad in Paris, along with 2020 Olympic reserve Georgia Courage-Gardiner.
The eight athletes selected to represent Australia this summer are as follows:
- Carolyn Rayna Buckle (23)
- Georgia Courage-Gardiner (21)
- Raphaelle Gauthier (18)
- Kiera Gazzard (22)
- Margo Joseph-Kuo (19)
- Anastasia Kusmawan (19)
- Zoe Poulis (18)
- Milena Waldmann (20)
- Reserve: Natalia Caloiero (21)
With a handful of World Championships under their belt over the last two Olympic cycles, 23-year-old Carolyn Rayna Buckle and 22-year-old Kiera Gazzard will make their second Olympic appearance. The two had placed ninth in team in Tokyo, and will look to improve on that finish as part of this young but on-the-rise Australian team. The experience and leadership of 21-year-old Georgia Courage-Gardiner, who served as reserve to the Olympic team in Tokyo and who competed at the last three World Championships, will also be invaluable.
“We’re training together all the time, our teammates are like family,” Gazzard said. “It’s so special to be able to share these Games with my family and use my experiences from Tokyo and give them to the younger girls who are doing it for the first time. It’s an honour.”
The press release did not specify who will make up the duet at the Games, but these three athletes have competed in this event over the last few months in various combinations. Last time out at the Paris World Cup at the beginning of the month, Buckle and Gazzard swam in the technical duet event, while Courage-Gardiner and Gazzard paired up in the free duet. At the Beijing World Cup, Buckle and Courage-Gardiner performed in the technical duet, while Buckle and Gazzard competed together in both duet events at the Doha World Championships in February.
Raphaelle Gauthier, Margo Joseph-Kuo, Anastasia Kusmawan, Zoe Poulis and Milena Waldmann will all make their first Olympic appearance in Paris. Joseph-Kuo, Kusmawan, Poulis and Waldmann have all competed extensively over the last two years, and were notably part of record-breaking finishes at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships. Poulis and Waldmann also swam at the World Championships as well as at the World Junior Championships in 2022.
“It’s something that I’ve been looking forward to in the distance for so long,” Poulis said. “Now that it’s actually within reach, I can’t even believe it. I’m just so excited.”
Raphaelle Gauthier is the latest addition to the Australian senior team, having only made her debuts for the country in 2024. Hailing from Montreal, the 18-year-old grew up in Canada and competed with the Canadian team at the World Junior Championships in 2022. Benefiting from dual citizenship through her parents, she moved to Australia in 2023 to pursue her Olympic dreams. She immediately made a significant impact at the Doha World Championships, helping the country to an eighth-place finish in the technical team event.
21-year-old Natalia Caloiero, who competed in the last three World Championships, was named the traveling reserve.
Overall, Australia has shown tremendous progress since the arrival of head coach Paula Klamburg, and of the implementation of a centralized program in Perth ahead of the 2023 season.
At the World Championships in Fukuoka that year, Australia qualified to the technical and free team finals, marking the country’s first appearance in a world team final since 2007. The squad repeated the feat again in Doha, placing eighth in technical team and 10th in free team.
At the Beijing World Cup in April, the country continued to show impressive progress and made history by winning three medals, its first on the artistic swimming World Cup circuit.
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Cover photo courtesy of Artistic Swimming Australia.
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