Rio 2016: St Albans synchronised swimmer makes a promising start

St Albans synchronised swimmer Olivia Federici has “made a promising start” to her Olympic campaign with Katie Clark, after the duo yesterday (Sunday) achieved a score of 79.9667 for their free routine at Rio 2016.

British Swimming said that Olivia and Katie “have continued to show their development since returning to the sport late last year and made their Olympic debut as a duet in Rio.

“The pair showed good speed and height throughout [their] snakes themed routine.”

Overall they lie in 18th place ahead of the technical routine today, Monday August 15.

Olivia said: “We feel pretty good. Obviously we’re a little disappointed with our score as we literally gave it everything we had. It was one of our best swims so you know we can only be pleased with that.

“I like competing outdoors and it’s really bright.”

She said there were a lot of people watching the synchronised swimming heat yesterday “and that gives a really good atmosphere for all of the athletes”.

Katie added: “We’re feeling good ahead of the technical routine.”

She said that having had a full practice on Saturday and another run through yesterday, “we’re just looking to fine tune every little detail to ensure we can get the best score possible”.