Russia retains synchro swimming duet gold at Rio Games; China takes silver

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Russian pair Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina showed their dominance in duet synchronized swimming as they won the gold in 194.9910 points.

The Olympic and world champions collected 98.5333 on Tuesday's free routine and scored 96.4577 in technical routine Monday, keeping Russia's streak of gold medals in this event since the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

"Psychologically it is very hard because we understand that a victory is always expected from us synchronised swimmers. We set the bar so high already and obviously we cannot drop it. There is great attention put on us. We are always being watched so we have to be three heads higher than the rest of the field," said Ishchenko.

China's Huang Xuechen and Sun Wenyan performed a well-executed free routine and got second highest score of 97.0000. They took the silver in 192.3688, adding the technical routine point. China took the bronze medal at the London Games.

"The Russians have more than one advantages, so we need to learn from them in every single aspects," said Sun.

Huang, a third-time Olympian, satisfied with the silver. "We performed well and I was not nervous at all. The second place is good, as Russia is too strong."

The winners also spoke high of the Chinese pair.

"We were afraid of the Spanish (duet) before, the same way we now fear the Chinese. We can't say that our level grew a lot or that our competitors started to trail us. The most important thing is to always respect your rivals and to follow their progress," said Romashina.

Japanese Yukiko Inui and Risako Mitsui ranked third with 188.0547.

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