On June 8, USA Artistic Swimming announced the eight members who will compete in the Paris Olympic Games. The all-female squad is led by two-time Olympian Anita Alvarez, who would become the second three-time Olympian in artistic swimming for the United States, and first since 1992.
The eight athletes selected to represent the United States of America this summer are as follows:
- Anita Alvarez (27)
- Jaime Czarkowski (20)
- Megumi Field (18)
- Keana Hunter (20)
- Audrey Kwon (17)
- Jacklyn Luu (25)
- Daniella Ramirez (22)
- Ruby Remati (21)
- Reserve: Calista Liu (18)
Having previously competed in the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympic Games in duet, Anita Alvarez is undoubtedly one of the veterans on this team. The 27-year-old has appeared in six World Championships — winning one silver and three bronze medals across the team events —as well as three Pan American Games in her career.
A key member of the USA artistic swimming squad for the last decade, she will only compete in the team routines this time around in Paris, leaving the duet to two of her younger teammates.
Jaime Czarkowski and Megumi Field will compete in both duet and team in Paris, hence swimming across all five routines. The two have been part of the U.S. senior national squad since 2022, and have competed in three World Championships together in the team events. They only started swimming duet together this season, making a strong impression at the Paris and Markham World Cups.
Originally from Calgary, Czarkowski represented Canada in the youth and junior age groups before moving to the USA in the fall of 2021. Now a four-time world medalist, the 20-year-old has had an immediate impact on the team. Continuously improving season after season, she has arguably become one of the best and most dependable athletes on this American squad, and recently made her debut in duet at the Paris World Cup in early May.
Unlike Czarkowski, Field has been in the duet ever since she joined the senior team prior to the 2022 season, but has frequently changed partners over the years. In 2022, she appeared in this event alongside Anita Alvarez, Daniella Ramirez, and Natalia Vega through the World Series legs and the World Championships.
Last year, she started off partnered with Calista Liu, before ultimately competing alongside Ruby Remati at the 2023 World Championships and Pan American Games, winning silver in the latter. Naturally, the 18-year-old has been a key member of the team routines over the years as well, and is a two-time world bronze medalist.
This U.S. team will also be able to count on the experience and leadership of Daniella Ramirez, Jacklyn Luu and Ruby Remati.
On the senior national team since 2018, Ramirez swam in four World Championships and two Pan American Games, winning four and two medals at these events, respectively, in the team routines. The 22-year-old has been incredibly consistent and invaluable over the years, notably serving as the team’s support swimmer during all impressive acrobatics.
Luu first joined the senior national team in 2017 following a successful outing at the 2016 World Junior Championships in duet and team. After competing in the Budapest World Championships that year, she enrolled at Stanford University and continued her artistic swimming career on the collegiate circuit. After graduating with a degree in psychology in 2022 and being named Collegiate Athlete of the Year two years in a row, she returned to the U.S. team. She subsequently medaled in the team events at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, as well as the 2023 Pan American Games.
Like Alvarez and Ramirez, Ruby Remati was part of the U.S national team during the last Olympic cycle. The 21-year-old had been named a reserve to the duet for the Tokyo Olympics, and will this time actually get to compete at the Games, focusing on the three team routines. In the fall of 2021 after Tokyo, she joined the collegiate team of the Ohio State University, and returned to the senior team in April 2023 after completing her sophomore season. Remati competed in three World Championships in total, winning a bronze in 2023. She is a four-time Pan American Games medalist across two editions as well.
20-year-old Keana Hunter has appeared in the last three World Championships after being a consistent member of team USA in the lower age groups over the years. After making her international debut at the 2019 World Youth Championships, she went on to win two silver medals at the Junior Pan American Games in 2021. The following year, she was part of both junior and senior national teams, and competed in those age groups’ respective World Championships.
Although she’s the sole member of this team to not have participated in the last Pan American Games, Hunter has been slowly but steadily improving over the last couple of months, clearly peaking at the right time to make it onto this Olympic squad.
Audrey Kwon, who will turn 18 in a few days, is the youngest on this U.S. Olympic team. She joined the senior squad right after competing in duet and team at the 2022 World Junior Championships. She has since become the team’s incredible flier, and arguably the Americans’ not-so-secret weapon that has allowed them to seemingly always be one step ahead in terms of acrobatics. Kwon was part of the medal-winning routines at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, and is a team silver medalist at the Pan American Games as well.
Calista Liu was named the reserve. After helping the team qualify to the Games in Doha in February, she missed the Paris World Cup recovering from a minor injury. She returned at the Markham World Cup last week and helped the U.S. win a bronze in technical team. Liu is also a silver medalist in team at the 2023 Pan American Games, and a three-time world medalist across the 2023 and 2024 editions.
2015 World Champion and six-time world medalist Bill May was not selected for the Paris Olympic Games. After decades working in the Cirque du Soleil show “O” and competing on-and-off at the elite level in mixed duet, the 45-year old had fully returned to the sport once men were officially allowed to compete at the Games in team starting in 2024.
He had appeared in the acrobatic team routine at the last two World Championships, winning silver in 2023 and bronze in 2024, and performed across all three Olympic team events at the Paris World Cup at the beginning of May.
This means there will likely be no men competing in the artistic swimming events in Paris.
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Cover photo: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia
If you’ve enjoyed our coverage, please consider donating to Inside Synchro! Any amount helps us run the site and travel costs to cover meets during the season.