Tokyo 2020: Teen Kiera Gazzard youngest in artistic swimming team at Olympics
They may look serene when they compete but being an artistic swimmer is harder work than you might think according to Randwickâs Kiera Gazzard.
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Kiera Gazzard is walking on air after being named in the artistic swimming team to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but she admitted there was one downside to her selection.
“I had to keep it secret for two weeks. It was extremely hard,” said the 18-year-old from Randwick. “It’s nice it is out in the open now.”
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Gazzard is the youngest member of the team booked on a flight to Tokyo and one of four debutants alongside Jane Fruzynski, Kirsten Kinash and Rachel Presser.
Four teammates - Hannah Cross, Emily Rogers, Amber Rose Stackpole and Amie Thompson - all competed at the Rio Olympics four years ago.
Gazzard was captivated by the sport from the first time she saw it as an eight-year-old.
“I was just doing my normal swim training and saw some girls spinning and dancing and turned to mum and said ‘what is that?’ I gave it a try and fell in love with it.”
“This is a lifelong dream of mine. I vividly remember watching the Beijing Olympics when I was seven and saying to my mum ‘I want to go to the Olympics’ – I can’t believe I can now look back and say I’ve done it, I’ve made an Olympic Team.
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While looking serene and composed is part of the sport, Gazzard said to perform well requires both time and effort.
“We do a lot of hypoxia exercises and endurance work,” she said.
“There’s a maximum limit of how long we can hold our breathe (30 seconds).
“We are trying to make it easy but there is so much going on.
“We work on flexibility, ballet and gymnastics training, strength and conditioning training, sprint training for agility.
“We have to be well rounded. We do about 30 per cent of our training out of the water.”
Artistic Swimming made its Olympic debut in 1984 when known as Synchronised Swimming.
It is one of only two events that is female only at the Olympics with teams performing a Technical routine of three minutes containing five technical elements and a Free routine of four minutes that emphasises creativity and choreography.
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