The Chinese team achieved great results in the Synchronized Swimming World Cup Beijing Station
Tonight’s Daily reporter Sun Longfei
On April 7, the three-day 2024 FINA Synchronized Swimming World Cup Beijing competition ended at the National Aquatics Center “Water Cube”. 14 teams from all over the world competed in the “Water Cube” and presented wonderful games to the audience.
The Chinese synchronized swimming team sent 25 members to compete in all 11 events, and ultimately won 6 gold medals and 3 silver medals. The main team members participated in the collective free-selection competition and won gold medals, adding confidence to their preparations for the Paris Olympics; the young players dared to fight and performed outstandingly, which was eye-catching.
The main players cooperate more and more tacitly
Collective free selection is the only event that the main players of the Chinese team participated in this World Cup. Although there were only two teams participating in the competition, the excitement exceeded expectations. The theme of the Chinese team’s entry was “Gravity”. The entire set of movements included many difficult rotations, as well as formation changes at different levels and unbalanced turns in different directions, which attracted constant applause from the audience.
The Chinese team has been polishing this set of works for a long time and is constantly adjusting and improving it. In this competition, the difficulty of applying for the action of this work was 56.60, which was higher than the difficulty of applying at the Doha World Swimming Championships in February this year. With their outstanding performance, the Chinese team won the gold medal with a high score of 343.3479, which was higher than the winning score at the World Championships. “In recent training, the team has become more cooperative and strives for excellence in every detail. Our steps towards the Paris Olympics are becoming more and more stable.” Team member Wang Liuyi said after the game.
Training through competition is an important purpose of the Chinese team’s participation in this station. Head coach Zhang Xiaohuan introduced that the World Swimming Federation recently adjusted the scoring rules for synchronized swimming again to limit the number of difficult movements in the works, which means that difficult movements cannot be stacked in the competition. , but pay attention to the richness of movements. In this regard, the coaching staff made targeted modifications and led the players to carefully refine it. “Everyone performed well again in this competition. I would like to praise the players.” Zhang Xiaohuan was satisfied with the performance of the players.
From catching up to surpassing and then leading, the Chinese synchronized swimming team has been making progress in recent years, with sets of masterpieces displayed on the stage of world competitions. Zhang Xiaohuan believes that the FINA’s adjustment of competition rules reflects the project’s high pursuit of artistry, and the Chinese team needs to continuously improve the completion quality and artistic expression of their works. “Faced with the new rules, we have to work harder and make use of our strengths to offset our weaknesses,” she said.
The second leg of the Synchronized Swimming World Cup will be held in Paris, France from May 3 to 5. At that time, each team will “train” at the Olympic venues. Zhang Xiaohuan said that the Chinese team cherishes the rare training opportunity and will continue to train the team so that the players can compete in the Olympics in good competitive condition.
The performance of young players is remarkable
In this competition, the Chinese team sent many young players to participate in the competition. Many of the 25 players on the roster are born in 2005. The performance of the young players is remarkable. On the first day of competition, 18-year-old Xu Huiyan won the women’s singles technical optional gold medal. In February this year, she participated in the World Championships for the first time and won the bronze medal in the single event. She also won 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal in this competition. She has become more mature in both technology and mentality. “The experience of the competition has made me grow rapidly and become more confident about the future,” she said.
In 2008, the Beijing Olympics was successfully held. In that year, Guo Mu was just born. Now, he is participating in his first international competition at the “Water Cube”, which feels very meaningful. On the first day of competition, he won 1 gold and 1 silver. Guo Mu also said after the game: “I am very happy to win the silver medal, and even more happy to win the gold medal.”
In the mixed doubles technical optional competition, Ji Heyue and Guo Mu also won the gold medal together. In the audience, the children from Beijing Xiqi Aquatic Center cheered loudly. Seeing Ji Heyue standing on the highest podium of the competition, everyone was very excited and said: “I must follow my sister’s example and practice hard.”
Ji Heyue practiced synchronized swimming at the Beijing Xiqi Aquatic Center for 5 years and was later transferred to the Beijing Municipal Team and the National Team. Zhang Xi, the head of the center, is very pleased to see the athletes he has trained gradually mature. She said: “Today I specially brought the children to watch the game. I hope to inspire them to bravely pursue their dreams and win glory for the country in the future.”
The development of synchronized swimming in China is inseparable from the struggles of generations of coaches and athletes. “The team always attaches great importance to the cultivation of reserve talents. Last year, we also selected some ‘seedlings’ from various places to organize training camps.” Zhang Xiaohuan introduced that the order of appearance in the Olympic Games, World Championships and other competitions is related to the team’s world ranking, so the team actively creates opportunities for young players to participate in international competitions. This opportunity can not only help the Chinese team gain tournament points and improve their world rankings, but also allow them to fully exercise and grow rapidly.
Event organizations focus on project promotion
Synchronized swimming competitions often bring people beautiful enjoyment with moving music melodies and expressive sets of movements. As the Chinese team continues to achieve good results in international competitions, more and more people are paying attention to, understanding and liking synchronized swimming. In this competition, after the contestants complete each set of works, there will be an introduction to the theme of the work on site to help the audience better understand the works and appreciate the competition.
It is understood that the organizing committee of this event has increased the proportion of mid- to low-priced seats, accounting for 85% of the total seats, in order to attract more people to watch the competition on site and promote the popularization of synchronized swimming events. According to the person in charge of the organizing committee, the event coincides with the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday, and tickets for two or three people with more favorable prices are very popular.
Ms. Dai Yiyi from Beijing took her daughter Guo Yinuo to watch the competition. Her daughter has been practicing synchronized swimming for two years. She talked about the competition with her friends fluently and explained various professional moves to her mother. While watching the men’s singles skill selection competition, Dai Yiyi was pleasantly surprised to find that her daughter gave her own ranking of the three contestants, and the result was consistent with the final ranking.
The excitement of the event is inseparable from high-quality service guarantee. 49 game volunteers are from Beijing Sport University, some of whom have served in the Beijing Winter Olympics. Under the command and coordination of the organizing committee, the operation team provided professional and thoughtful services to participating teams in all aspects.
Chen Jie, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, said that Beijing recently successfully applied for the 2027 World Athletics Championships and the 2029 World Swimming Championships, and also won the right to host the WTT World Table Tennis Federation China Grand Slam from 2024 to 2028, successfully hosting the figure show. The Swimming World Cup is an important manifestation of the efficient use of Beijing’s “Double Olympics wealth”. “Beijing should continue to make good use of high-quality venue resources and mature event operation experience to continuously enrich the people’s sports life and continue to stimulate citizens’ enthusiasm for watching games, consuming, and participating in physical exercises.” He said.