Olympics | China extend lead in artistic swimming

PARIS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Multiple world champions China extended their lead after the team free routine of artistic swimming at the Paris Olympics here on Tuesday.

China, who had swept all the three team events at the 2024 Doha World Championships, took 398.8917 points for their routine theme the Gravitation, beating the United States 360.2688 and Mexico 347.3874 in the team free events.

After the team technical and team free events, China now have a total of 712.4455 points, 69.42 ahead of the United States on 643.0255, with Spain third on 633.6119. Japan and hosts France are fourth and fifth respectively.

"Our routine has updated with higher degree of difficulty and more changes. It is very hard to perform well but I think we did a great job and enjoyed the show every much," said Feng Yu, team leader and flagbearer for China at the opening ceremony in Paris.

China head coach Zhang Xiaohuan explained the decision for the team to begin their routine at the side of the pool, rather than in the water.

"I prefer the traditional way of performing the opening showcase on the stage rather than start in the water, because we want to show our team modeling and our beautiful swimsuits," she said.

"The artistic swimming is the combination of difficulty and beauty. We try to find our way to balance the two big elements of the sport," Zhang added.

On Wednesday, the team event will come to an end after the team acrobatic event.

In Paris, the team competition consists of a single finals phase with all ten teams of eight swimmers performing three routines, including team technical, team free and team acrobatic, across three nights from August 5 to 7. The final result, and the basis for medals being awarded, is the sum of points from all three team routines.