Canadian Duet Crowd Favourite in Beijing
August 19, 2008, BEIJING: The Canadian synchronized swimming duet of Isabelle
Rampling (Burlington, Ont.) and Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon (Riviere-du-Loup,
Que.) hold on to sixth spot after a dynamic free program preliminary performance
at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China today.
"We are very pleased with this performance,” says Boudreau-Gagnon. “The dragon
theme helped us connect with the crowd and the enthusiastic reaction to the
routine was very moving.”
The Canadian pair was sixth after their technical program yesterday with their
score of 47.417, and maintained that position with their free routine score of
47.333, and a combined score of 94.750 points. While today’s overall score
determines the top 12 duets to advance to the finals, the duets will take only
their technical score forward to the finals with them.
Defending world and Olympic champions Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova
of Russia kept a solid lead on the field with a free program score of 49.500 and
combined score of 98.834. Spain’s Gemma Mengual and Andrea Fuentes managed to
hold on to second spot with a score of 49.084 and total of 97.918, while the
Chinese duet of Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting and Japanese duet of Saho Harada
and Emiko Suzuki tied for third in the free program, both with 48.500 points.
Because of their strong technical program score, the Japanese duet scored
slightly higher overall than the Chinese twins, with 96.750 points, two tenths
of a point ahead of the Chinese.
Christina Jones and Andrea Nott of the USA claim fifth spot with 47.750 points,
and an overall score of 95.500.
The Canadian duet and their coaches Denise Sauve and Julie Sauve return to the
pool tomorrow for their final duet free program performance.
Synchro Canada is the national governing body for the sport of synchronized
swimming in Canada. We support the development of synchro athletes, officials
and coaches at all levels. Speedo and Eco-Fusion are proud sponsor of Canada’s
national synchro teams.
For more information:
Claire Carver-Dias
Synchro Canada
Marketing and Communications
416.788.9367
communications@synchro.ca
In Beijing:
Martin Richard
Director of Communications
Swimming Canada
Beijing Mobile +86 150 0772 4307
mrichard@swimming.ca