The Australian Team enter the Paris Games having won three World Cup medals; a historic achievement. But it’s not just the results that give the team confidence, it’s the constant improvement in its scores over the past 12 months.

Overview 

The Australian Olympic Team is represented by eight artistic swimmers at the Olympics Aquatic Centre from 5-10 August. The first competition is The Team Technical Routine on 5 August at 3.30am (AEST).

Australia has achieved its best results leading into Paris including its highest score at the World Championships finishing eighth in the Team Technical and 10th in the Team Free.

It also won silver medals in the Team Technical and Team Free along with bronze in the Team Acrobatic “acro” at the World Cup in China last April.

Coach Paula Klamburg Roque, who is being touted as the force behind the side’s recent success, won a bronze medal for Spain at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She is known for her meticulous planning in every element of the team’s routine and for being methodical in how the athletes’ build their performance.

A move from their home cities to the centralised high performance program based in Perth has added to the athletes’ opportunity to perfect their skills.

The Aussies are known on the international artistic circuit for bringing energy and fun in their routines; their enjoyment noted by all those who watch as being impactful on overall performance.

They also pride themselves on their cultural heritage which includes performers from Canada, Croatia, Singapore, Indonesia and Uzbekistan.

Ones to Watch

Australia

Zoe Poulis is a rising star dedicated to increasing awareness about the sport. The 18-year-old has 165,000 followers on Instagram. Leading into the Paris Games, she filmed several of her solo routines on the Great Barrier Reef and featured in the Australian Team’s campaign for team luggage sponsor July.

Milena Waldmann and Carolyn Buckle, a Tokyo Olympian, bring a majestic speed of movement to the team.

Russia has taken gold in both the Team and Duet events the last six Olympics, a streak that stretches back to the 2000 Sydney Games, but that ends in France as Russia and Belarus are not competing in these Games.

China enters Paris as favourite ahead of Spain with Mexico considered the competition’s dark horse.

Sport Format

Australia competes against nine nations in the Teams competition: Canada, China, Egypt, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the United States. 

Pairs will be selected from those teams, and be joined in the Duet competition by artistic swimmers from Austria, Great Britain, Greece, Israel, South Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Ukraine.

While all nations had the option to select male competitors for the first time under an International Olympic Committee rule change; no men from any team will compete. 

The Artistic Swimming format consists of the Duet competition, as well as the Team competition.

The Duet competition has two routines: the duet technical routine and the duet free routine.

The Duet Technical routine requires pairs of swimmers to perform five technical elements along with two free hybrid elements plus an acrobatic element.

Those competing in the duet free routine must complete seven free hybrid elements and two acrobatic elements.

The final rankings for each country are determined by adding the scores from the technical routine and free routine.

The Team competition consists of three routines: the team technical routine, the duet free routine, and the Team Acrobatic ‘acro’ routine.

The team technical routine demands for teams to perform five required technical elements along with three free hybrid elements and one acrobatic element.

The team free routine demands seven free hybrid elements and four acrobatic elements.

Final rankings are determined for each nation by adding the scores from its three routines.

Competition Schedule

The first round of competition (the Team technical routine) starts on 5 August at 3:30am.