Six Australian artistic swimmers made their Olympic debut on Friday night at the now iconic Tokyo Aquatic Centre as part of the eight-member artistic swimming squad. 

Carolyn Buckle, Hannah Burkhill, Kiera Gazzard, Alessandra Ho, Kirsten Kinash, and Rachel Presser all dove into the pool for their Olympic debut,  led by dual Olympians Amie Thompson and Emily Rogers. 

The Australians came into their technical routine, the first of two routines in the competition, ready to bring the heat and they sure did deliver. 

From the moment they hit the water, the eight athletes gave it their all for the full two minutes and 50 seconds to the tune of Tokyo Drift by the Teriyaki Boyz. 

“We changed our tech team music to something really upbeat and fun,” Rogers said. 

“We really enjoy swimming that routine. So maybe that was another reason it has been our best score yet, because it's just so much fun.” 

The score was a personal best for the Australians, two points better than their performance at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. 

According to the captains there were two important factors to the success of the team at these Games, a new head coach and being able to work together every day. 

“We all moved to Canberra, to the Australian Institute of Sport, in January, so we centralised for the six months leading into the Games, which we hadn’t done before,” Thompson said. 

The Australian team for the Rio Games in 2016 had not taken such steps. Nor did they have Australia’s secret weapon, Lolli Montico. 

“We recently had a new coach come in and help us, Lolli Montico, she’s had a lot of experience at four different Games,” Rogers said.  

Montico came to the team after stints with the Italian, Great British, and United States Olympic Teams.  

“I think that definitely helped us,” Rogers said. 

The Australians are back in the pool on Saturday night for their free routine. That routine will be inspired by the hit TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

Matthew Barnard