Deep rivalries: China and Spain battle for artistic swimming gold

It's one of the greatest rivalries at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer: The women's artistic swimming teams of China and Spain are ready to swim off for supremacy. And with hundreds of millions watching, this will be one of Paris 2024's greatest spectacles.

Spain were team technical world champions in 2023, China in 2024, but neither nation has ever won Olympic gold. At Paris 2024, both are delving deep into creative repertoires and dreaming of a historic first.

"I think the entire team's dream is to win gold in Paris," Spanish swimmer Iris Tío tells CGTN at their high performance training center in Barcelona (CAR).

"I admire the Chinese team," she says, "they inspire me and they motivate us, we believe we're up there with them and we're going for it in Paris."

Tío began swimming and training synchro at five years of age after she saw pioneer Gemma Mengual swimming on TV. Now Tío is picking up where Spain's star swimmer Ona Carbonell left off.

Tío is already a star at 21 and also competes in the duet with teammate Alisa Ozhogin, they won bronze medals at both the 2023 and 2024 world champs.

Ozhogin has a different story to tell.

"I was born in Russia, in Moscow," she tells CGTN. "My family is Russian and I speak with them in Russian. But I moved to Spain when I was one year old because my father found work here. He's a musician and he started to work here in the orchestra."

Coincidentally, it's a background she shares with Tío, whose parents are both classical musicians, and whose grandmother is a pioneering composer of experimental electronic music.

Ozhogin moved to Barcelona at 15 to train with the team full-time. Now she's 23, a world champion, and has the top of the Paris podium in her sights.

Olympic artistic swimming preview

At the World Championships in Doha earlier this year, China completed a clean sweep of the gold medals. However, this Spain team - European champions and World runners-up behind China in the technical routine - fears no-one.

Mambo music and flamenco guitars are the soundtrack to Spain's success, they bring passion and expression.

"We are proud of our culture," Ozhogin says. "We love to mix different kinds of music, and this music motivates us. We identify with these, Spanish guitar and flamenco. And for us is something special. We always try to swim from the heart."

That's where Spain coach Mayuko Fujiki thinks Spain might have a small advantage over the Chinese team - in the artistic element. And Fujiki knows a thing or two about synchro - she won an Olympic medal as a swimmer, and six as coach of Japan, Spain and China.

"I think China and Spain have very different styles," she reveals. "The Chinese team has always been very precise, very synchronized, very detailed, very skilled swimmers. In Spain we have more artistic, more new, original music and choreography."

For all the focus on these two titans, Fujiki insists that it isn't just between China and Spain.

"I think in total we are five teams that are very close, so we're not just competing with China, any team could win."

Spain and China, however, do go into the Paris Games as favorites, and it's a story of rivalry and respect where - make no mistake about it - both teams are out to win.

"We beat them one time last year and why can't we do it again?" says Ozhogin.

Whatever happens, it'll be spectacular to watch. The artistic swimming runs from August 5-10, the Team events from August 5-7 and the Duet on August 9 and 10.

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