China wins artistic swimming duet gold ahead of UK, Netherlands

Written by Sheila Dang

PARIS (Reuters) – China won its first gold medal on Saturday in the artistic swimming duet at the Paris Olympics, with the Wang twins beating three other sisters who were competing for the title.

China also won the team artistic swimming event on Wednesday, making it the new dominant force in the sport. Russia is the nation with the most gold medals in artistic swimming, but was disqualified from Paris after invading Ukraine.

The United Kingdom and the Netherlands won their first medals in the sport with silver and bronze respectively.

Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi started their free routine in spectacular fashion, crawling like leopards to the edge of the water before diving in. As with their artistic routine on Friday, the twins dominated the pool, gliding gracefully as they performed and stretching across the expanse of water.

After Friday’s technical routine, the sisters were in position to win the gold medal, but by just 9.5 points, meaning their victory was not guaranteed.

While waiting for the result, Wang’s team sat on the edge of the seat, jumped up and burst into tears when they saw they had won the gold medal.

Britain’s Kate Shortman and Isabel Thorpe performed a routine titled ‘Rising Phoenix’ which was intended to reflect a new era for artistic swimming, with the new scoring system introduced at the Paris Games.

The dramatic musical selection included a bird song as the team began their performance with two somersaults in the water. The swimmers and their coach cried and hugged each other as their result secured them a medal.

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(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Paris; Edited in Spanish by Hector Espinosa)

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