“Russian synchronized swimming has always been a mirror for me.” Chinese national team coach on our “mermaids”

Ana Tarres – Coach of the Chinese synchronized swimming team. Previously, she coached the Spanish national team when it was the main rival of the Russian national team. Today, Ana has achieved what she has been striving for for a long time: Olympic gold. Unfortunately, the Russian team is not participating in these Olympic Games.

We talked with her about the Russian school of “mermaids” and the new realities of synchronized swimming.

– Ana, how are you? Have you adapted psychologically to the new synchronized swimming system?

– It is incredibly difficult. I come from a completely different system. This new system of rules completely kills the symbiosis that existed in synchronized swimming – the symbiosis of sport and art. Nowadays, there is not enough room for a creative approach to programs; perfectionism and beauty of execution also fade into the background. Everything is gone. We work on complexity, creativity and new ideas for filling programs are incredibly difficult to integrate into this approach of rules.

“But you’re trying, that’s obvious.”

– Of course, we try. We try to do our best. We are just now trying to bring quality through the individual talent of athletes. I have always been in favor of a creative approach, and now my task is to adapt it to the new system and, with the help of individual qualities, to make the program as complete and brilliant as possible. Anyway, I think that the new rules require more thorough adaptation.

— Now, the acrobatic program is your favorite?

— I like the idea of ​​including it in the Games program. Especially since with the new rules, it is perhaps the only discipline in which we can bring something of our own. It is more of a spectacle than any other program.

— Do you think synchronized swimming would be ready for the first men’s Olympic medal right now? Bill May, for example, ultimately did not qualify for the U.S. team.

– The idea is not bad. But they attacked it too quickly. Bill had not trained at the team level for a long time, so it would be difficult to arrive in time for the Olympics.

– You didn’t put a man in the team either…

– They didn’t install it. We have athletes, but it’s very difficult to prepare someone and integrate them into a team in two years to perform at a high level.

— Do you miss the Russian team?

– Certainly. They have been leaders for many years and queens in terms of performance and technique. I was the queen in terms of artistic content (laughs). By the way, I think that the new rules would make them even higher. But I think that they are not happy with the new rules. The new rules help the lower level teams. And at the moment I miss the beautiful and long legs, the big elements. I am sure that Russian synchronized swimmers understand what I am talking about.

Russian synchronized swimming has always been a mirror for me. I took a photo, showed it to the athletes and said: if you don’t try to perform all the elements like the Russians, you will never achieve good results. I used this as motivation for female athletes to improve. And of course, I have always been for elegance, for beauty. I think everyone knows that.

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