Three-time Olympic champion Alexandra Patskevich in an interview with , she admitted that she was sad to see synchronized swimmers competing at the World Championships in Budapest, as the level of performance had dropped significantly.
Russian synchronized swimmers, who dominate the sport, missed the tournament by decision of the international federation due to the situation in Ukraine. The overall medal standings were won by the Chinese team.
– It’s hard for me to say how interesting it was – the level dropped a lot, and because of that it was hard to watch. You don’t see the struggle and it’s all sort of sad, to be honest.
– Who supported the level apart from the Chinese in the group?
— I liked the duo from Austria. Girls have long been trying to get to the front of the stage, to get closer to the podium. I consider them the opening of the championship, although of course we have been following them for a long time.
China is not surprised. The programs were old, but in general you can judge by the points they received. If our team had performed and done it at their level, they would have won. I can’t even comment on the rest: we worked with the Italian national team – I have my own joys and sorrows about their performance, but the rest is nothing new. Look and sigh. Same thing again, out of sync again…
– He affected the grades. Nobody received high scores from the Russian national team in “our” traditional events.
“And that made me happy. Despite the fact that everyone understood that China would be in the lead, scores like before the Russian team were not given. This confirms that China is no match for our team. The score was awarded to whoever the team finished the program for, they were not awarded higher simply because they were the favorites.
– Can you indicate the most interesting programs of this world championship?
— I like the Chinese duo. “Snakes” is not a new program, but for them it is a step forward. It’s not for Chinese music, the music was written specifically for the program, they resisted the image. I also like the aerobics-themed Mexican women’s program from the 90s. I’m already old, it’s something nostalgic (laughs). And, again, the Austrian duo, but there were also old programs. Due to the fact that the World Cup was constantly postponed, no one was ready to come up with a new program after the Games. All ended up showing Olympic compositions.
Let’s wait for the next season, the next cycle. Hopefully there will be something interesting there, that our athletes can perform, surprise everyone and show real synchronized swimming.
– Already accustomed to the discipline of “highlight”? Does it need to be modified somehow? Maybe add some men to the team.
– Now it will not work, because there are few men who correspond to the level of women’s synchronized swimming – the path of simplification should be followed. “Highlights” is a short composition with a lot of essential elements. Everything is very dynamic. The public loves it. But it seems to me that it would be possible to integrate all this history with a combined composition, where literally our whole species is represented. Shorten it, enter the requirements for highlights – it would be very spectacular and intense.
Source : MatchTV
