olympic games 2024

The Spanish swimming federation announced in a statement on its website the early termination of Mayu Fuyiki’s contract as artistic swimming coach and the appointment in her place of Andrea Fuentes, a legend of aquatic sport who since 2018 has been the coach of the United States, a team with which she won a silver medal at the Paris Games two weeks ago.

The announcement does not give any reasons. The results reveal that twelve years later, Spanish synchronised swimming, or “artistic swimming” under the new name of World Aquatics, is still below the level achieved at the London Games, where Spain beat China and won silver, only behind Russia, unbeaten since Sydney 2000. It was precisely in London 2012 when Andrea Fuentes became the most decorated Spanish swimmer in Olympic history, adding two silvers to the bronze and silver she had already won in Beijing. The return of the athlete from Tarragona, now as a coach, closes a circle and an era of fruitless searching in the strategy designed by the federation after the dismissal of Ana Tarrés, responsible together with Gemma Mengual for the constitution of a first-class team in a field that until 2000 was a wasteland. In September 2012, after the Games, the RFEN fired Tarrés for alleged mistreatment of swimmers, which was reported anonymously and never acknowledged by the courts. The Supreme Court ordered the federation to compensate the coach. Andrea Fuentes, leader of Tarrés’ team during two Olympics, left swimming before the 2013 World Championships but immediately began training.

The seventh place in the duet final, and the bronze in the team event obtained by Spain at the Paris Games, behind the United States, silver with Andrea Fuentes, and China, double gold with Tarrés, reflected the purely reactive character of a team that long ago lost the avant-garde seal that distinguished it until 2012. Only the sanction against Russia, the hegemonic power in artistic swimming, expelled from the competition after the invasion of Ukraine, allowed the Spanish to get on the podium. The results prompted the president of the federation, Fernando Carpena, to try to hire Andrea Fuentes. It was not the first time. The president has been trying to convince her since 2021, according to sources close to the team.

The official statement referred to by Carpena points to an amicable termination of the contract that committed Mayuko Fujiki: “After seven years in office with impeccable work, the RFEN announces that Mayuko Fujiki is no longer the coach of the National Artistic Swimming Team. Mayu, who was already on the team staff at a previous stage, has led the development of our team to continue progressing at an international level.”

Originally from Osaka, Mayu Fuyiki became interested in synchro thanks to her mother, who was a coach for the Japanese national team swimmers. “My great love for this sport began when I saw the United States team at the 1984 Games,” she recalled. She joined the Japanese team before the 1996 Games and, after her retirement, Ana Tarrés invited her to join her coaching staff. Few people know the evolution of Spanish artistic swimming like Mayu Fuyiki and her role as a link was useful to the federation that hired her seven years ago to get the team out of the crisis that began in 2012. But the Paris Games opened up rifts. A conflict between the swimmers, the coach, and the high performance director, Luis Villanueva, exposed the kind of disillusionment that cannot be easily resolved.

When, on August 8, the federation ordered the bulk of the swimmers to leave the Olympic Village after the team final to allow Iris Tio and Alisa Ozhogina to prepare for the duet final in peace, the measure was very badly received by the group. As reported by Onda Cero, and confirmed by sources close to the team, the swimmers who had just won bronze had to rent an apartment in Paris because the federation assumed that their idle presence in the Village would prevent Tio and Ozhogina from getting a night’s sleep. Mayu Fujiki was disowned. The duo’s seventh place did not help to restore unity.

“The landing”

The statement published by the federation on Tuesday confirms the hiring of Andrea Fuentes, 41 years old: “The RFEN wants to announce the arrival of Andrea Fuentes as the new coach of the National Artistic Swimming Team, who arrives hand in hand with Víctor Cano.” Víctor Cano, who was a gymnast for the Spanish Olympic team and is married to Andrea Fuentes, collaborated in the formation of the United States team that won silver in Paris with acrobatics that bore his signature. Under the new regulations, the acrobatics routine, an element that is more gymnastic than swimming, together with the free and technical routine, makes up one of the three prescriptive parts whose score is computed in the team competition. The acrobatics were, according to Mayu Fuyiki herself, Spain’s weak point in Paris.

“It is an honour for me to become the new leader of the Spanish national team,” Andrea Fuentes said in the statement. “I will do so with the same passion and commitment that have always guided me, seeking to reach the top in an innovative and attractive way for the athlete. Together with Víctor, we will create unforgettable moments, with the intention of contributing something new to the sport and helping its evolution. We are ready to give our best and discover the unique personality of this team, which will undoubtedly fill our hearts every day.”

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