With Russians absent, China leads after team technical routine at Olympic artistic swimming
SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — With longtime powerhouse Russia not competing at the Olympics after the invasion of Ukraine, artistic swimming opened Monday at the Paris Games with a rare dose of unpredictability.
China led after the team technical routine with 313.5538 points, followed by Spain (287.1475), Italy (277.8304) and France (277.7925).
Russia began a run of dominance at the 2000 Sydney Games, winning every Olympic gold since then in the sport formerly known as synchronized swimming — 12 straight victories in all.
But the country has been largely shunned on the international sports stage since launching its war on Ukraine. Russia has not entered an artistic swimming team at a major competition since the Tokyo Olympics.
Men were eligible for the team event for the first time at these Games, but none of the 10 teams picked a male swimmer.
The team competition continues Tuesday with the free routine, followed by the acrobatic routine on Wednesday to decide the gold.
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