Three-time Olympic synchronized swimming champion Alexandra Patskevich in a conversation with , she called the decision to allow men to participate in group competitions premature.
The Technical Congress of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) on Monday approved changes to the rules for synchronized swimming. They concern the content of the programs, the evaluations and the judging system. Congress also voted to include men in group competitions, which had previously been all-female at World Championships, Europe and the Olympics. The men have only played as a mixed pair at the World and European Championships.
– A very difficult question. It’s such a European-oriented agenda, so to speak, and, unfortunately, it doesn’t come from our sport. In my opinion, it is a very fast movement. Since 2015, when mixed pairs were introduced, there have not yet been a large number of leaders and competitions in men’s synchronized swimming. Maybe it was done for promotion.
But here the following question arises: if we are told that we cannot get tattooed so as not to distract an athlete’s attention, how will the judge not be distracted by a man in the group? Attention will always be focused.
Another question: which countries will be able to put a man in the group – us, Italy. But who else? Who would take such a risk? It is a risky choice for other countries. For us, no. Sasha Maltsev is a world-class athlete, putting him in an acrobatic program is no problem. How to combine the blended and group training process is another matter. It never happened,” Patskevich told .
– You said “it’s a very quick step.” Premature?
– It is too early. And not because I’m against men in synchronized swimming. The appearance of men caused a wave of new discussions, public interest. Now there just aren’t as many good simultaneous interpreters to talk about.
I thought it would happen and the rules would be accepted. It took so long to develop it, it was so detailed, complicated. To normalize such a creative sport – we still have to try. It will be very difficult for athletes and coaches to work. And it’s not just about the coaches. Coaches working with multiple ages will need to keep cards for each soloist, pair. This is a huge new component that has entered into coaching work.
For the most part, all of these rules equalize everyone – if you want to create the most complex program, you type the same things. And now, under the conditions of the old rules, to bring the complexity to the maximum, you have to do amazing things and bundles for 20 seconds. How to combine the new rules with the creative part… The emotions and the goosebumps that the programs give us are something very important, which we would like to keep. Let’s see how coaches manage to handle this.
Source : MatchTV
