Monday 17 July
2000
Synchro squad nears
'perfection'
DAVE STUBBS
The Gazette; Canadian Sport News and L'agence Diapo contributed to this column
Canada's synchronized swimmers hope
September's result in Sydney will mirror what it was yesterday in Locarno, Switzerland,
where Olympic-bound duet and team entries won gold medals in the Swiss Open, the final
competition before the Games.
The Canadians scored a few near-perfect 9.9s
in their final routine to earn 97.987 points, well ahead of the silver-medal Chinese, at
94.923. The host Swiss were third with 91.569.
"We just need to polish the routine and
make it technically superior," said Jacinthe Taillon of Saint-Eustache. "You
don't want it to be perfect now, anyway. We want to peak for the Games, and I think gold
in Sydney is now a possibility."
Quebecers hold four of the eight spots on the
team, including Taillon, Jessica Chase of St. Laurent, Catherine Garceau of Dollard and
Fanny Letourneau of Deux-Montagnes.
The duet returns to the Olympic program this
year, having been dropped after the 1992 Barcelona Games, and Letourneau and Mississauga's
Claire Carver-Dias yesterday overhauled Anne Koslova and Tuesday Middaugh of the U.S. to
win with 97.850 points. The Americans, first after the technical routine, won the silver
with 97.423, ahead of China's 95.926.
The competition will be tougher in Sydney -
notable absences in Locarno were Russia and Japan, currently the world's two synchro
superpowers.
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