Team USA performed its "Action" themed technical routine in front of a packed house at the Water Cube on August 22. The U.S. swam its way into a fifth place tie with Canada. Both teams scored a 95.167 and carried a 47.584 over into the team free competition held on August 23. The overall order of finish was determined by combining fifty percent of the tech routine score and fifty percent of the free routine score.
"We did a great job," said Co-Captain Kate Hooven (Pleasanton, Calif.) after the tech team performance. "We couldn't ask for a better technical program. Our lift is quite difficult. The base stand is our arms. That makes it more risky than usual lifts. We did it to perfection."
Team USA debuted its brand new free routine program to the theme of "Light." The routine featured innovative and groundbreaking choreography which has never been brought to the competition pool before.
"It (the free routine) was definitely something new we were trying to do," said team member Janet Culp. "You can't go into a competition doing what everyone else is doing, and try to do it better. You have to do what is yours and make it work. We've been working really hard to show the world something new."
"It's special," said Hooven, when asked to describe the much anticipated U.S. free routine program. "We put a little bit of everyone into it. It's entertaining to watch and pleasing to the eye. It's a lot of pressure to pull it off. We are really going for the free feeling."
Despite near-perfect lifts, and well-executed routines, the U.S. finished the team event in a fifth place tie with Japan, after the Japanese received a two point penalty for touching the bottom of the pool. Russia was crowned the 2008 Olympic Champion with a near-perfect mark of 99.500. Spain earned the silver medal with a score of 98.251 while China earned its first Olympic medal (in synchronized swimming) with a 97.334.
Duet Event
After finishing duet technical and free routines in fifth place, Christina Jones (Fremont, Calif.) and Andrea Nott (San Jose, Calif.) advanced to the duet free finals held on Aug. 20 at the Water Cube. The competition started off with 24 pairs which performed both the tech and free routines and was whittled down to 12 for the free routine finals.
The U.S. finished the finals competition in fifth place with a mark of 95.500. Reigning Olympic and World Champions Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova took the top spot on the podium with a nearly flawless 99.833.
"We did everything we wanted to do in the pool," said Nott. We are happy with what we did today."
The United States swam its technical routine to the theme of "Anger" and concluded with its free routine to the theme of "Metamorphosis."
