The artistic swimming competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics finally began after already one week of intense action in the French capital. After patiently awaiting their time to shine, athletes from around the world gathered at the Olympic Aquatics Centre, one of the new facilities built especially for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.

For the very first time, artistic swimming started with the team competition, which is set to last until Wednesday, when a new Olympic Champion will be crowned. 

Unlike at the European or World Championships, where medals are awarded for each routine, there will be only one set of medals for three team routines. In Paris, the scores of the Team Technical, Team Free and Team Acrobatic – which is on the Olympic programme for the first time – will be added to determine the final rankings.

In terms of routines and choreographies, no one unveiled anything new tonight, although of course everyone had made changes and increased their Degree of Difficulty (DD) since their last outing.

 

The team from the People’s Republic of China came in as the favorite and was absolutely outstanding, delivering an astonishing performance with its “Speed and Passion” choreography. The Chinese were as flawless as they could get in terms of technical skills, and they scored 313.5538 to take a comfortable lead after day one.

Spain, reigning two-time European Champions and vice-World Champion in this event, were superb in their “Pon Le Fuego Vamos!” choreography and scored 287.1475 to place second. The Spanish had declared the highest Degree of Difficulty of the day, a huge 51.15 marking a near-four points increase since Belgrade, and executed it successfully. 

By the time the competition ended, Italy and France were ranked in third and fourth position. However at 9:45 pm, an official communication was sent out, stating that the scores had been revised following appeals from Japan and the USA regarding the basemarks they respectively received.

These two appeals were ultimately upheld and both basemarks overturned, meaning Japan moved to third with a total score of 284.9017 and USA to fourth with 282.7567. Italy and France found themselves bumped to fifth and sixth.

Teams have up to 30 mins at the end of the competition if they want to protest. Of course, this is a crucial opportunity for coaches to advocate for their athletes, for their results, and to fight for what they believe is correct. 

However, having results changed and the rankings drastically affected more than one hour after the competition has ended is overall quite incomprehensible to everyone watching as well as other media in Paris covering the sport (as indicated by the hundreds of messages received). And simply, not a great look.

Does this mean that now nobody can trust the decisions being made live, nor the results displayed on the screens at the end of the competition? That the information being broadcasted on TV as the event concludes is unreliable? Should spectators and athletes really be expected to wait a few more hours just to be absolutely sure that the results are final? 

This uncertainty may potentially undermine the integrity of artistic swimming, but most certainly and more importantly indicates the need for a better reviewing and protest procedure.

That said, only seven points separate Japan in third and France in sixth, and less than 10 points between Spain in second and France. This is quite a small gap, especially compared to the one between first and second, which is of over 26 points.

Team Italy hadn’t competed at all since the Doha World Championships in February, but clearly didn’t let any nerves show. Although starting off with a DD lower than all but two teams tonight, the Italians were greatly successful in their “Disco Dance” routine and scored 277.8304.

“It wasn’t an easy year, but we are really happy to be here,” Lucrezia Ruggiero said. “It’s the first Olympic Games for most of us, so we are enjoying it. You can really feel the difference between the Olympics and other competitions. I was just telling my teammates how our stay in the village is really amazing because I don’t feel anxious or stressed about the competition, which is strange for me!”

France sits only 0.00379 behind Italy with a score of 277.7925 after an outstanding performance with their “A Trip to Space” routine, which they choreographed in homage to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, whom the team met last year. The French also had a clean swim, and are motivated to shine in the rest of the competition. 

“Our goal with this routine was to be credited with our full difficulty, and we did just that,” said team captain Charlotte Tremble. “It’s a great start to the competition. We were able to show how strong we are, how much we want this medal, now we just need to stay focused for the next two days.”

The home team was welcomed in the pool by a thunderous roar from a packed Aquatics Centre, where their music could barely be heard at times. Undoubtedly, the French athletes soaked in every second, and thrived in this unbelievable atmosphere.

“The crowd gave us so much energy,” said team captain Ambre Esnault. “You could hear them screaming, even underwater. We hadn’t even poked our heads out yet we could already hear the screams. We’ve never heard anything like it, it was crazy. We already could barely wait to get going after seeing the success of all the French athletes this past week, so today gave us so much energy for the rest of the competition.”

In the end, Mexico was the sole team to suffer from a basemark today, and the team currently lies in eighth place with a score of 242.9491. 

“We made some mistakes, it was unusual for us,” Nuria Diosdado said. “This routine was actually one of our best, but things happen for a reason and we know we can be much better. We know that the new rules are difficult and that if you make a mistake, they will penalize you. Tomorrow, we have to do a perfect routine. We have two more: the free routine and the acrobatic routine, which are very good for Mexico, so we will give everything.”

Canada ranked seventh with a score of 262.4808 for its “Forest Magician” routine. Egypt, which had the honour of being the first team to jump in the pool and to open these Olympic Games in artistic swimming, is ninth with a score of 242.7651, while team Australia is 10th with 235.9071.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET

Cover photo: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia

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