Olympic Day 12 - Tech Duet

Well everyone, hope a bunch of people tuned into NBC to watch Mariya and I start off the Olympic Games for Synchronized Swimming! What a rush! I can't explain the energy that I felt as I walked out on deck.

But before that, we had a bunch of practice! We started out the day bright and early, alarms going off at 5:45 so that we could be hitting the water by 7:15. We had a short practice with music in the Competition pool, then we got out to knox. I know I promised some shots of the knox prep, but I'll try to get that to yall tomorrow.
Mayu got in on some of the action too and helped us pin our head pieces!

Mariya being pinned

We ate lunch, and then after all that was done, a few moments of relaxation (which lasted all of about half an hour) and then back to the pool. We had more warm-up time in the Comp pool, so that we could take our time and get even more used to our surroundings. This 30-45 minutes is basically a free for all. All the duets in that section are allowed in the pool at once, so if you're not careful you can run over someone! (Or be the unfortunate one who is run over...) Not a contact sport hmm? Haha

Luckily after that we had some down time to put our legs up, do our makeup:

Hey look it's ME!

and get ready for competition...but the prep isn't over yet!
2:00 rolls around and we're back in the pool matching and going over last minute things before we compete. We have to be in the last call room with 15 minutes till we swim, which in our case was the start of the entire competition! As I said earlier, I can't even explain to you how the entire moment felt. One point, we're in the ready room. Talking to each other about what we need to remember, where we need to press higher, making sure we remembered our walk out, and then it was time! We stood in this hallway for a few moments before actually walking out to the base of the platform stairs. There were SO many people!!! And so many American flags! Unfortunately, our family's were in the corner (with a great view of the diving well mind you, but we swim in the competition pool!) so they got a slightly far away angled view of our routine. So the big screen that showed the routine as we went was probably really helpful on their end!

Our Deckwork, Aretha would've been proud

Although, I do have a small warning. Don't watch the screen while you're competing! Our deck looks straight at the video, the problem is that it is slightly delayed, so what you see up there has already happened. Not gonna lie, there was a point during our walk out that I saw the screen and was VERY confused as to why my counts weren't matching up with what I saw. Thank goodness I didn't miss any steps because of it!

Then the music started, and we hit the water. We went through the entire routine, and hearing the cheers every time we came up was amazing. There were so many people behind the judges in the stands that you couldn't pick out just one person. It was a mass of colored dots. At the end, I could take it all in. We were done! The slow-mo replay at the end showed one of our elements looking amazing, so we both had a huge smile on our face as we walked up to get our scores. So did Mayu!

Captured off a friends phone, which is of her computer

Okay, not the best picture, but check out the applause! haha

After we competed, we had to wind through some media. Now, it's not as crazy as maybe some of the swimmers got, but we got our share. Answered some questions, and Mariya even spoke to a reporter in Russian. I really need to learn another language...

Our hard work isn't over yet though. Yeah, thought we were done after we competed hmm? Nope! We changed, and it was back in the pool to begin preparing for our Free routine tomorrow. Ankle weights on, and going through the routine. No worries, this happens at all competitions. Imagine what we would've been doing if this were a World competition, and we had two more team routines, and I might've had a solo as well to compete with!

Alright, well that's all I've got for today...I'm off to an early bedtime haha
G'night! Until tomorrow...FREE DUET!!!


--Mary

P.s. 
Competition Schedule (All times local) - Aquatics Centre
Sunday, Aug. 5 - Qualification Duet Technical: 3-4:50 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 6 - Qualification Duet Free: 3-5:25 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 7 - Duet Final: 3-4:30 p.m.

NBC Broadcast schedule (All times Eastern)
Sunday, Aug. 5 - Qualification Duet Technical: 10-11:50 a.m., NBC Sports Network
Monday, Aug. 6 - Qualification Duet Free: 12:45-1:15 p.m., NBC
Tuesday, Aug. 7 - Duet Final: 4-4:45 p.m., MSNBC


* NBCOlympics.com will also stream every event live online at:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/online-listings/sport=synchronized-swimming/index.html