The US artistic swimming team has made a comeback by qualifying for the Olympics for the first time in 16 years. They're led by coach Andrea Fuentes, a four-time Olympic medalist and a 16-time world championship medalist. We follow the team through their demanding training regimen as they prepare for their final event before the 2024 Paris Olympics. One of the key parts of training is repetition, running the routine over and over again. Their strategy to earn a spot at the podium is to incorporate difficult moves into their choreographed routines and execute them perfectly. Some of the key players are Anita Alvarez and Daniella Ramirez.
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00:00The U.S. Artistic Swimming team may be on the brink of an unbelievable comeback.
00:09It's been 16 years since U.S. Artistic Swimming has qualified for the Olympics as a team.
00:17After a long and calculated road to the Olympic qualifiers in February 2024, they waited,
00:25breathlessly, to see if they'd broken their streak.
00:35All the years of hard work, everything kind of just like came into that one moment.
00:39We filmed with the team in June 2024 as they prepared for their final showdown at the World
00:45Cup Super Final in Budapest, Hungary, before the Paris Games.
00:49They're setting out to prove they've got what it takes to top the podium in Budapest
00:53and beyond.
00:55And they have a secret weapon.
00:57Andrea Fuentes.
00:58Andrea Fuentes.
00:59Andrea would be the right answer.
01:02As soon as she came to take over the national team program, things just started to turn
01:07around.
01:08One more time, extremely precise.
01:09I don't need nobody to tell me it's a tough sport, I know.
01:12It's like upside down, no breathing, the cardio's super high.
01:15So if you think about it, it's a crazy sport.
01:19So what exactly makes artistic swimming so difficult?
01:22And what is Andrea's game plan to make Team USA second to none?
01:32So we train six days a week, eight hours a day, sometimes more.
01:36We wake up usually starting around six.
01:38And we do land warm-ups, so just making sure our body's nice and nimble before we start
01:42strength training.
01:43And then we do land rolls, so that's when we go through the movements on land.
01:47Do it again like this.
01:495, 6, 7, 8.
01:501, 2, 3, 4.
01:515, 6, 7, 8.
01:521, 2, 3, 4.
01:535, 6, 7, 8.
01:541, 2, 3, 4.
01:555, 6, 7, 8.
01:561, 2, 3, 4.
01:575, 7, 8.
01:581, 2, 3, 4.
01:595, 6, 7.
02:001, 2, 3, 4.
02:01Andrea Fuentes was named head coach in 2018.
02:06She's a four-time Olympic medalist and a 16-time world championship medalist.
02:12And she's been strategically working to train Team USA for an Olympic comeback.
02:17Ready?
02:181, 2, 3, 4.
02:19The team will be competing in three events.
02:211, 2, 3, 4.
02:225, 6, 7, 8.
02:231, 2, 3, 4.
02:245, 6, 7, 8.
02:25Team-free, technical, and acrobatics.
02:26OK, that was good.
02:27Took you four times.
02:28Four times, that's good.
02:29Our goal is three, always.
02:30OK, so that we can move through these things.
02:31And then it also means that you're retaining that information.
02:32Artistic swimming is basically, it's a combination of gymnastics, swimming, yoga.
02:33Water polo, with the way we move our legs, like so many skills combined into one.
02:49You'll have the one girl who's the flyer, so she goes off of all the lifts on top.
02:53She does the flips and the tricks.
02:56Flyers are thrown five to seven feet into the air, all from a platform of athletes treading
03:01water beneath them.
03:02And the rest of us are just supporting pushers.
03:05So we're either pushing with our hands, we're holding a foot and pushing it up.
03:09And our job is basically to create a floor for the base and the flyer together.
03:14We have to perform these movements synchronized to music.
03:18And they're treading water through all those lifts, thrusts, and upside-down footwork,
03:24which are called hybrids.
03:32Once we get in the water, we warm up to make sure our heart rate gets up.
03:44And then we'll start our routine.
03:45So we'll kind of like go upside down and make sure that our balance is good in the water.
03:50And then we'll start.
03:53One of the most tedious aspects of training for an artistic swimming team is repetition.
03:58But it's what helps ensure a team is consistent, and is a key element to success.
04:04Make sure that from here you don't go like this, but also the leg up down is doing this.
04:11Let's go like super long.
04:13Yeah.
04:14Yeah.
04:15Much better.
04:16Much better, Audrey.
04:17This.
04:18Yes.
04:19Usually when something's good, it's almost like bad news because that means you have
04:21to do it twice.
04:22Nice.
04:23So much better.
04:24So when something's good, they're like, OK, let's make sure it wasn't luck.
04:38One of the standout players under Andrea this year is Daniela Ramirez.
04:43She's a third-generation artistic swimmer and two-time bronze medalist at the 2024 World
04:49Aquatics Championships.
04:50This is the last steps.
04:51The last 100 meters, yes?
04:52You're not giving up.
04:53You're going for it max, yes?
04:54All your strength.
04:555, 6, 7, 8.
04:562, 3.
04:573, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
04:581, 3, 5, 7, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
04:591.
05:00Yeah.
05:01Keep it up.
05:02Keep it up.
05:03Audrey, higher.
05:04You're doing great.
05:05Let's go.
05:06Let's go.
05:07Let's go.
05:08Let's go.
05:091, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:101, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:111, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:121, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:131, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:141, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:151, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:161, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:171, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:181, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:191, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:361, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:371, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:381, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:391, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:401, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:411, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:421, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:431, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:441, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:451, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:461, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:471, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:491, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:501, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:511, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:521, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:531, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:541, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:551, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:561, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:571, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:581, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
05:591, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:001, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:021, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:031, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:041, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:051, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:061, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:071, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:081, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:091, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:101, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:111, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:121, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:131, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:141, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:281, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
06:42And now, now, more, more, more.
06:45Yes.
06:46We're having moments of brilliance, but not at the same time.
06:50No, no.
06:51It's because you have your leg flying, so it goes forward.
06:54Try to touch your knee, and then you will not have this problem.
06:58And you join with the toes, you know, like this.
07:02And you join with this part inside, and make the toes go vertical.
07:07Noticeably missing from today's practice is veteran Anita Alvarez,
07:11who's been on the national team for nearly a decade.
07:14Anita is another secret weapon for Andrea, along with Daniela.
07:18She's a two-time Olympian who medaled in duets at Tokyo in 2020
07:22and at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
07:25And she's currently recovering from a hamstring injury.
07:31It's frustrating from an athlete point of view, but I had, yeah,
07:33a shorter practice today, but trying to keep, like, the breath work
07:36so I'm upside down holding my breath for the same amount of time,
07:39but just not moving my leg as much.
07:42The average human can hold their breath for 30 to 90 seconds,
07:46but some experienced synchronized swimmers can train to hold their breath
07:50for up to five minutes.
07:52When you're upside down, let's say that the maximum amount of time
07:56underwater is like 20, 25 seconds, which seems easy.
08:00But when you have your heart rate at 200 beats per minute,
08:05you really feel the need of breathing.
08:07That's one of the trickiest parts of our sport that people don't realize
08:10is we're having to hold our breath, but at the same time,
08:13we're having to think about and do so many other things.
08:16Like, we have to move and be on count.
08:18Goggles are not permitted during competitions,
08:20so swimmers do all this with the added difficulty
08:23of keeping their eyes open underwater.
08:25We have to be spotting our teammates and make sure
08:27that we're in the perfect spacing and in line with this person.
08:30When we put our legs up, that's called a hybrid,
08:32and those are worth the most just because of difficulty scores.
08:35A hybrid is defined as having a combination of two or more movements
08:40performed with lower limbs with intentional apnea.
08:44In other words, underwater with the head below hip level.
08:49Remember, we're getting a score on those.
08:52And then, throw it up.
08:55Yes, you can turn a little bit further.
09:00In addition to pattern changes, teams can also earn higher scores
09:04by traveling during a hybrid.
09:11I think this routine is the most challenging, probably physically.
09:15It's the hardest to go into because you're underwater probably
09:19the longest chunks of time you're underwater,
09:22and it's a lot shorter than the other ones,
09:25so it's a lot more intense.
09:27We have to pack in everything all at the same time,
09:29and there's no really time for rest.
09:31To help perfect their form, technique, and execution,
09:34the team uses underwater cameras to capture the routines for playback.
09:42That was not bad.
09:44That was not bad.
09:47Our acrobatics coach is coming at 12,
09:50and we're going to work on acrobatics with a camera
09:52that has the ability to film underwater and above the water,
09:56so we can see what's going on underwater to correct for the pushers.
10:01There are so many more moves, but the eye can't catch all the minute details.
10:07That's why you see coaches using iPads and every kind of camera technology possible.
10:12When you can catch all of it, it makes the final product even greater.
10:15We have a guest here today, which is Tammy McGregor,
10:18Olympic gold medalist in our sport.
10:20With video, sometimes looking at it almost makes it worse
10:23because it makes you feel like you look bad,
10:25so your confidence goes a little bit down,
10:27but having her tell you to do something, I think,
10:30and exaggerating that correction really makes things better,
10:32especially with extension, just really activating the quads,
10:35making sure your hamstrings are really activated.
10:38Having her here has been really productive for us,
10:40so we've just been trying to listen and absorb everything from her.
10:43That was pretty much our whole practice,
10:45but because she's here, we have to make sure that we do the hard stuff, too.
10:48I think the jump could be a little more aggressive into that one, right?
10:52Because you've got a little bit more fatigue than you do for the first thrust.
11:07Nice.
11:09Good one.
11:28We were doing an element butterfly,
11:30and I really was screwing it up today,
11:35so Tammy was yelling at me today, but it's all good.
11:38It's a correction that I had yesterday that is transferring over today,
11:41and I got it 50% of the time.
11:43So, yeah, just straightened it out.
11:48Between the coaches and the athletes,
11:50everyone here is so passionate about what we do,
11:52and we have to be because you'll see some of the conditions that we're in,
11:55and we're not paid,
11:57and a lot of us are working other jobs or going to school,
12:00so that's just pure passion to be able to give up,
12:04sacrifice so much and give up so many other opportunities in life
12:07to be here for eight-plus hours every single day.
12:11It's hard to believe that she's an Olympian.
12:13I mean, the odds of becoming an Olympian are pretty small.
12:18This is our Olympic wall over here.
12:21Rio, stop.
12:24And this is Rio named after Rio de Janeiro, the Olympics.
12:29Yep.
12:31I am 2017.
12:34Anita started dreaming about the Olympic team probably when she was about 12.
12:38We always watched the Olympics as a family.
12:40And we were watching, and she's like, well, how old do you have to be?
12:42And I said, I think you have to be 16.
12:44And Anita started processing that.
12:46She's like, well, wait.
12:47So technically I can be in the next Olympics.
12:49I said, yeah, technically you can.
12:51Then that's when she really started, you know, thinking about the Olympic dream.
12:56All right, so this is Anita's room.
12:58We have all her medals are over here.
13:01That was her first summer.
13:03That picture up there was her first summer on the national team.
13:07This is cool.
13:08This is something they give the Olympians.
13:11It's like a big yearbook.
13:13One of my favorite pictures from the Olympics.
13:17Now they made the Olympics, and now it's like,
13:19hmm, they could really possibly get a medal.
13:22So it's super exciting.
13:24Would it be nice for them to get a gold?
13:26Yeah, it would be nice for them to get any kind of medal.
13:28Yeah, but it would be really nice to get a gold.
13:37We were always a sports family.
13:39It doesn't matter what we did, we had to do some kind of a sport.
13:41Have you spoken to any recently?
13:43I have.
13:45Yesterday they had a Team USA for water polo was doing an exhibition yesterday,
13:51and they got to do the halftime show.
13:59She texted me.
14:01She goes, Dad, it was a bomb.
14:04And inside of me I was like, bombing is bad, but I guess it's good.
14:09So nowadays it's good.
14:12Daniela is an athlete as she is right now today.
14:16It's like she has these blinders on right now,
14:19and she's laser focused on the task ahead, which is the Olympics.
14:22Really proud that she's Latina, she's from Venezuela.
14:25But more than anything, I think that she represents our way of life.
14:31Thank you to a country that gave us so much.
14:38And I get emotional.
14:41Because I've had the greatest opportunity,
14:44basically because I came here when I was young,
14:47in such an amazing country.
14:50Having a kid represent the United States, it's such an honor.
15:00This is it, the last stop for the U.S. artistic swimming team
15:04to show they have what it takes to bring home an Olympic medal.
15:10And look at this first acrobatic move.
15:14And now a 10.85 hybrid with six pattern changes.
15:19My goal in Budapest is to keep the difficulty,
15:22like we're practicing the hard one.
15:25But we were going to show just the last minute an easier one,
15:29so they get to work on the Olympic routine.
15:33But one day before I'm going to take some things away to make it easier,
15:37so they feel stronger.
15:39One day before I'm going to take some things away to make it easier,
15:42so they feel stronger and more confident.
15:45Try to beat our rivals with less difficulty, but better execution.
15:52And the hype that she got there.
15:55They took gold in the technical team.
15:57They took gold in the acrobatic team.
16:00Have they done it again?
16:03Wow, 346.610.
16:07United States of America have done it again.
16:11It's the gold.
16:13They've won gold in all of the team events.
16:17This gold medal sweep has proven Andrea's strategy is working.
16:22But they haven't reached their goal just yet.
16:25With the biggest challenge still to come,
16:27Team USA will need to stay laser-focused on training
16:30if they hope to win gold at the Olympics.
16:33There's more than glory riding on this.
16:36An Olympic medal victory could signal a change in tide
16:39for Team USA's future in the sport.
16:42When you get back in the medal game, a lot changes with your funding.
16:46There's a lot of these things that people don't think about
16:49that go into the success of a sport and a team
16:52and are results of winning medals.
16:55If we win gold, I not only celebrate,
16:58I jump from where I fell with a parachute.
17:03If we don't make the podium, we already made history.
17:06But I don't want to feel that we failed
17:09because we already did something unbelievable.