US artistic swimmers inspired by past winners on way to silver medal

SAINT-DENIS, France — It’s been 20 years since American artistic swimmers won an Olympic medal in the team competition. On their way to silver Wednesday night, they were guided by the U.S. 1996 squad, which won gold in Atlanta at the event’s Olympic debut. 

At the Paris Olympics, the artistic swimmers read letters, penned specifically for them by the American gold medalists from 28 years ago. 

“We've had so much support from the past Olympic teams throughout this journey,” two-time Olympian Anita Alvarez, 27, said with her silver medal around her neck. “We've had letters from the ‘96 team that we're reading every day. …

“Today we had (an acrobatic) team day (letter), and yesterday we had a special one for the free team day. And we've had them, I think, since we arrived. Actually, (for the) opening ceremony someone wrote one. So it’s been really special.”

On the final day of the team competition with the acrobatic routine, Team USA finished second with a score of 914.3421 behind China’s gold medal-winning total of 996.1389. Spain won bronze with a 900.7319 score. 

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Before Paris, Team USA’s most recent Olympic medal in the team competition was bronze at the 2004 Athens Games. Qualifying for the Games in February at World Aquatic Championships in Doha, Qatar, this group is the Americans’ first Olympic team since 2008.

“For a whole decade, we didn't have an Olympic team,” 25-year-old first-time Olympian Jacklyn Luu said about the team competition. “So to be able to have that impact for the future generation just means so much. 

“I'm thinking about when I was a little kid, there are going to be future small boys and little girls who see this routine that we swam and are going to be so inspired by what we created and what we did out there that they're going to want to do synchro and just enjoy."

Luu added: “We as a team kind of take moments to really enjoy everything and put it into perspective of how this historic moment for our team, how that will translate to future teams.”

Throughout the acrobatic routine competition Wednesday at Olympic Aquatics Centre, the crowd was electric, creating a party-like atmosphere. Of course, it helped when teams incorporated an eclectic variety of music for their routines, from Eminem (twice), Snoop Dogg, The Lion King soundtrack and the can-can, galvanizing the fans. 

With a routine theme of sorceresses, Team USA’s music consisted of “like 100 different cuts,” Alvarez said, mixed together by coach Andrea Fuentes, “our master DJ” and a three-time Olympian herself. Details in the music ranged from drum elements for a specific beat to “random owl noises,” and Wednesday’s performance was on the heels of a viral Michael Jackson-inspired routine, upside down moonwalking and all.

The team competition is broken into three routines: the team technical routine, the team free routine and the team acrobatic routine. Following the acrobatic routine Wednesday night, the scores from all three routines were added together to determine the final rankings. 

After the team technical routine Monday, Team USA was ranked fourth (282.7567) behind China, Spain and Japan. But the Americans stunned in the team free routine Tuesday, finishing second (360.2688) behind China and setting themselves up to contend for their first Olympic medal in 20 years.

“It felt really good today,” Alvarez said. “It could have been chaotic and crazy because we're coming into this in second place, and that could have easily been lost if we failed one lift or anything. So I think this team has a great mindset.

“Our coaches have instilled such a positive way of thinking about all this stuff, and rather than focusing on what could happen if we get a base mark and the failures, it's like, no, let's focus on what we can actually achieve if we accomplish full credit, if we get all these.”

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