Artistic Swimming Preview

For the 10th Olympic Games in a row, Team USA will be competing in artistic swimming. The U.S. qualified athletes in the duet event and will look to break the Russian stranglehold on the gold medal, which has lasted since 2000. The U.S. has just one duet medal in that time, a bronze won by Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova in 2004.

In 2018, USA Synchronized Swimming — which has since changed its name to USA Artistic Swimming (USAAS), in line with international standards — named 11 athletes to its senior national team, who have trained together in Moraga, California, ever since. In 2019, the coaching staff of USAAS also changed significantly. Spain’s most decorated female Olympian, Andrea Fuentes, was named head coach, bringing a new voice and style to USAAS.

In 2019, the senior national team won bronze medals in duet and team at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Also that year the team qualified for finals in every event at the 18th FINA World Championships. With only one returning Olympian on the roster, the senior national team featured a lot of young talent striving to qualify the U.S. in team for the first time since the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. The U.S. came up just .211 points shy of qualifying at the final qualification tournament in June 2021, but went home with spots safely secured in duet thanks to the combined efforts of Olympian Anita Alvarez, Ruby Remati and Lindi Schroeder.

Updated on June 18, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.

• In the last three years, USAAS has undergone a leadership change at the CEO level and on the coaching staff. Adam Andrasko has been chosen to lead USAAS, while Fuentes was named head coach. USAAS also hired Olympian from Ukraine, Anna Voloshyna as assistant coach and junior national team head coach, and three-time Olympian from Brazil, Lara Teixeira Cianciarulo, was named assistant coach and high-performance manager.

• The USAAS senior national team program has produced international success over the past several years that they hope will carry over to Tokyo. U.S. artistic swimmers won bronze medals in duet and team at the 2019 Pan American Games and qualified for finals in every event at the 18th FINA World Championships, finishing fourth in mixed duet, 12th in solo and duet and 11th in team.

• The U.S. qualified in duet but only after a scary moment and through the effort of three swimmers. Anita Alvarez briefly lost consciousness at the qualification tournament shortly after completing the free routine, and coach Andrea Fuentes dived into the pool fully clothed to assist her out of the water along with Lindi Schroeder. Alvarez was cleared to come back and swam the technical routine later that day, but alternate Ruby Remati stepped in for the finals. She and Schroeder finished fifth to secure Olympic qualification.

• Anita Alvarez is the only Olympic veteran on the senior national team. In 2016, she was the youngest swimmer on the U.S. roster, but she now represents the veteran presence for a very young Team USA. In 2019, Alvarez earned two bronze medals at the Pan American Games in duet and team. She qualified for the finals in team, duet and solo at the 18th FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Alvarez, 24, formed a new duet partnership with Lindi Schroeder in October 2019.

• Lindi Schroeder was the duet alternate in 2019 but earned her spot on the Olympic hopeful duet squad in October. She swam the technical duet event at the 2019 Synchro America Open with partner Alvarez, earning silver. At the 2019 Spanish Open, Schroeder and Alvarez placed fifth in the technical duet. Schroeder, 19, earned a bronze medal with the U.S. team at the 2019 Pan American Games.
• August 2, 2021: Prelims begin in Olympic duet competition with free routines
• August 3, 2021: Duet technical routine
• August 4, 2021: Duet free routine final and medal ceremony