Synchronized swimming, also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World Aquatics. It has traditionally been a women's sport, although FINA introduced a new mixed gender duet competition that included one male swimmer in each duet at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and European Aquatics introduced men's individual events at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships. From 2024, men are able to compete in the team event at the Olympics.
Gemma Mengual Civil is a Spanish synchronised swimmer. She has competed at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. On 15 February 2012 she announced her retirement. After retiring she became involved with coaching the national synchronised swimming team. However in June 2015 Mengual announced that she would return to competition with the aim of competing at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia, in the mixed duet with Pau Ribas, whom she had previously coached. Although she had previously indicated that she would not compete beyond the World Championships, in September of that year she confirmed via social media that she would compete in the duet in the 2016 Summer Olympics with Ona Carbonell.
Svetlana Alekseyevna Romashina is a former Russian synchronized swimmer. She won a total of 41 gold medals while competing in four Olympic Games, seven world championships, and six European championships. After winning two golds at the 2020 Summer Olympics, she became the most decorated athlete in the history of her sport.
William May is an American synchronized swimmer. Performing primarily in duets, May won several national and international events. May desired to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics, but then there was not yet a mixed or male category in Synchronized Swimming.
Yukiko Inui is a Japanese competitor in synchronised swimming. She won Japan's first gold medal in each the solo technical routine and the solo free routine at a FINA World Aquatics Championships at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in the duet event with Megumu Yoshida, and in the team event.
Evangelia Platanioti is a Greek artistic swimmer. She competed in the women's duet at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's duet where her partner was Evangelia Papazoglou. They finished in 10th place.
Jacqueline Simoneau is a Canadian synchronized swimmer.
Giorgio Minisini is an Italian synchronised swimmer. He won two bronze medals in the inaugural mixed duet competition at the 2015 World Championships. He was world champion at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in the mixed duet technical routine in 2017 and 2022 and the mixed duet free routine in 2022. In 2022, he became the first male artistic swimmer to win a gold medal at a LEN European Aquatics Championships in a men's solo event, winning the gold medal in the solo technical routine.
Aleksandr Evgenyevich Maltsev is a 4-time world champion and 6-time European champion in artistic swimming and a founder of men's artistic swimming in Russia. Aleksandr is the most titled male artistic swimmer in the world. He is recognized as the best male artistic swimmer in the world by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) and as the best male artistic swimmer in Europe by the European Swimming League (LEN).
Kate Elizabeth Shortman is a British synchronised swimmer, the most successful in her nation's history. With partner Isabelle Thorpe, she won a silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the duet, the first medal won by Great Britain in the sport.
Isabelle Thorpe is a British synchronised swimmer who won a silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the duet. She competed in the women's duet event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. She also represented Great Britain at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary and at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. She also competed at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She trains at the City of Bristol Swimming Club.
Lara Mechnig is a synchronized swimmer from Liechtenstein. She competed in the women's duet event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. This was also the first time Liechtenstein competed in artistic swimming at the Summer Olympics.
Shelly Bobritsky is an Israeli Olympic swimmer who competes in Artistic swimming. She competed in the 2020 Olympics in duet, was the European Champion in the free combination event in 2023, and was a three-time European medalist as well as a two-time European Cup bronze medalist. Bobritsky represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in artistic swimming women's duet with Ariel Nassee, and the pair came in 11th.
The 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series began on 19 March 2022 with a virtual event jointly hosted by the United States and Canada and ended on 22 May 2022 with an onsite super final event in Athens, Greece. The series consisted of four legs across three continents and featured solo, duet, and team artistic swimming events in female, male, and mixed categories. It was the final edition to use the name FINA Artistic Swimming World Series preceding a change of competition name on 9 December 2022 to FINA Artistic Swimming World Cup for the 2023 edition.
Gustavo Adolfo Sánchez is a Colombian artistic swimmer. He won two gold medals in the solo free routine at the 2022 Artistic Swimming World Series as well as a bronze medal in the mixed duet technical routine. His gold medal in the solo free routine at the Paris stop of the 2022 World Series marked the first gold medal won by an artistic swimmer representing Colombia at a FINA Artistic Swimming World Series. He is a 2022 Bolivarian Games champion in the mixed duet routine. At World Aquatic Championships, he placed sixth in the mixed duet technical routine in 2022 and eighth in 2019, as well as sixth in the mixed duet free routine in 2022 and eighth in 2019.
Javier Enrique Ruisanchez Torres Zayas is a Puerto Rican artistic swimmer and former pool swimmer. He is a nine-time medalist at the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series, winning eight medals at the 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, he and his partner Nicolle Torrens became the first artistic swimmers representing Puerto Rico to qualify for, and compete in, a final of a mixed gender duet event at a FINA World Aquatics Championships, finishing eleventh in the mixed duet free routine and twelfth in the mixed duet technical routine.
Tomoka Sato is a Japanese artistic swimmer. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, she and her younger brother Yotaro Sato became the first duo representing Japan to win a silver medal in the mixed duet technical routine, they also became the first representing Japan to win a silver medal in the mixed duet free routine. She also won a silver in the team technical routine and a bronze medal in the team free routine at the same Championships. Earlier in the year, she won a gold medal in the mixed duet technical routine and a gold medal and a silver medal in the mixed duet free routine as part of the 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series. At the 2018 World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships, she won three bronze medals in team events.
Quentin Rakotomalala is a French artistic swimmer. He was the first man to win a bronze medal in the solo free routine at a LEN European Aquatics Championships, winning the medal at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships.
Artistic swimming competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France ran between 5 and 10 August at the Paris Aquatic Centre. For the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the competition featured fewer than 100 athletes, with a total of 96 athletes competing in two medal events, namely the women's duet and the mixed team.
The women's duet event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 9 to 10 August 2024 at the Paris Aquatic Centre. In the absence of Russian swimmers, the Chinese pair of Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi broke the Russian streak of six consecutive titles. The minor medals went to Great Britain's Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe and the Netherlands' Bregje and Nooryje de Brouwer, the first Olympic medals in the sport for both nations.
