Artistic swimming makes its debut this Monday at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
It’s not the same sport anymoreexplains Julie Fabre, the director of the French team. It’s a more strategic sport but the advantage is that the hierarchy established for so many years can be shattered. But it’s really a story of strategy. This new regulation has opened the door even more, but it has opened the door to everyone, not just to us.explains the coach. Of the ten teams at the Games, eight can reach the podium. “
It must also be said that since the Sydney Games in 2000, Russian dancers have monopolized all the titles in the discipline, i.e. twelve gold medals out of a possible twelve. The exclusion of their country from the competition has completely reshuffled the cards.
Changes
Before each run, coaches must provide a list of technical elements that will be presented in the program, and each of these elements is assigned a difficulty rating. “I’ll give you an example, a 360° rotation with both legs in the air is worth so much. A spin is worth so much, staying vertical with both legs in the air for X amount of time is worth so much, etc. All of this has been fully codified. The difficulties add up and in the end it’s worth a score.”explains to AFP Julie Fabre, the director of the French teams. To note these elements, new judges, the technical controllers, have appeared. Their role is simple, to inflict penalties if the elements announced are not perfectly carried out. “It’s simple, basically they press a buzzer every time there is a foul. So it’s a penalty.”
We have lost a bit of the artistic fiber. Now the goal is to put in as many difficulties as possible. The figures are much longer and much harder, we have less time to breathe and to put in artistic parts. We miss that a lot when we swim.” explains swimmer Eve Planeix
A secret choreography
We want to spend time trying to find beautiful movements that provide emotion while other countries are not going to bother, they are going to work on pure synchronization.e, says Laure Obry, coach of the Bleues. For the start of the competition with the technical program, the Bleues present a ballet on the theme of “space travel” inspired by a meeting with Thomas Pesquet and in three parts with takeoff, weightlessness and landing.