Paris Notebooks: The time has come to make way for artistic swimming at the Olympic Games

Changing of the guard at the pool. After more than a week of thrilling races at the Paris Games, the time has come to make way for artistic swimming.

The competitions will begin on Monday with the team events. Then will come the duets at the end of the week.

Despite the historic decision by World Aquatics to allow men to compete, the competition will remain all-female, with no men apparently good enough to make it onto the 10 qualifying teams, including Canada.

Speaking of Canadians, this will be the last chance to see the remarkable Jacqueline Simoneau, 27, who announced that her third Olympic Games would be her last. She will be competing in the duet event with her partner and number one fan, Audrey Lamothe, 19.

In a portrait of this endearing duo produced by Radio-Canada, another sports idol, Sylvie Fréchette, had a vivid and striking way of describing the challenge of these athletes with their sometimes too flashy jerseys, their too heavy makeup and their too tight smiles.

“It’s crazy how athletes in synchro swimming are seen as feminine, with the glitter and makeup. If you saw us in training, we are tanks ” says the gold medalist at the Barcelona Games and silver medalist in Atlanta, using the old name for the sport (synchronized swimming).

“There’s nothing feminine about what we do,” she continues. “No glitter and makeup. Synchronized swimming athletes are, in my opinion, among the most complete of all sports. Because we’re asked to be strong, to be powerful, to be resilient, to be flexible, to be artistic, and to pretend that it doesn’t hurt. And that’s the magic of artistic swimming.”

So let’s make way for tanks of the swimming pool.

This report was funded with support from the Transat International Journalism Fund-The duty.

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