Round-up: Rivals aim to emulate clean-sweep Russia

Reigning Olympic champions Russia remained dominant in the Synchronised Swimming but China and Spain have pledged to rival them in the future.

RENANG INDAH INDONESIA (11/8). The Russian Team held on to their Olympic title with a score of 197.030 - three points clear of silver medallists China, and nearly four above bronze medallistsSpain.

They have won gold at every World Championships since 1998 and seem to be almost unbeatable, with Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina sealing the Duets title for Russa too.

China's Jiang Wenwen said: 'The Russians' performance was almost perfect. They are idols for us, they are models for us to learn. Perhaps in the future we can catch up little by little and close the gap.'

Alba Cabello Rodilla from the Spanish team said beating the gold medallists was 'not impossible'.

'The Russian team has great technical potential but we are very strong on the artistic aspects, so why not beat Russia one day? It's not impossible,' she said.

Russian coach Tatiana Pokrovskaya, who was thrown in the pool by her team as they celebrated, said she gets inspiration from rival teams.

'It's great to have serious competitors because everything they do we learn from. Our programmes were so different, the inspiration behind them was so different, and that's inspiring. At this level it's fantastically imaginative.

'I've learned from the other teams and I want my girls to learn from them.'

Russia performed both their technical and free routines to music by Denis Garnizov, while China adopted a butterfly theme for their free piece.

Spain, who missed out on the silver medal by just one point, insisted they were not disappointed by the result.

Thais Henriquez Torres said: "We are very happy because above all, the most important thing for us, was the feedback that we got from our coaching team. They were very happy.

'We think we've done better than ever here, we've shone today more than we shone yesterday.'

Results

Synchronised Swimming - Medals

1.      Russian Federation (2-0-0)

2.      People's Republic of China (0-1-1)

3.      Spain (0-1-1)

Women's Duets

1.      ISHCHENKO Natalia / ROMASHINA Svetlana (98.900)

2.      CARBONELL BALLESTERO Ona / FUENTES FACHE Andrea (96.900)

3.      HUANG Xuechen / LIU Ou (96.770)

Women's Teams

1.      Russia (197.030)

2.      China (194.010)

3.      Spain (193.120)