Tokyo Olympians Carolyn Rayna Buckle and Kierra Gazzard return for their second Games, while Anastasia Kusmawan, Georgia Courage-Gardiner, Milena Waldmann, Margo Joseph-Kuo, Raphaelle Gauthier and Zoe Poulis will make their Olympic debut.

The squad is training in Townsville at the historic pool which hosted Olympic staging camps for Australian Olympic swimmers from the 1950s onwards.

Coached by London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist with Spain PaulaKlamberg, the team will enter the Paris Games off the back of a string of impressive results, This inludes achieving their highest ever score and World Championships finishing result at Doha in February, and winning three medals at the World Cup in China last month.

As part of their Townsville camp, the team is also diving at the Museum of Underwater Art on the Great Barrier Reef.

The team includes athletes balancing full time training and competing at an elite level with studying in architecture, engineering, education and paramedical.

Deputy Chef de Mission for the 2024 Australian Olympic Team and four-time Hockey Olympian Mark Knowles announced the team’s selection in Townsville.

“I’m thrilled to announce Australia’s artistic swimming team for the Paris Olympics,” Mr Knowles said. “Congratulations to each of the athletes, and the coaches, family, friends and supporters who made this possible.

“It‘s special to have so many family members of the selected athletes here with the team in Townsville to share in today’s celebrations.

“To manage training and competing at an elite level, achieving some of Australia’s best ever results, while also studying and working is a testament to the skill, dedication and determination of this team.

“I look forward to Australia getting to know these athletes and supporting them at the Paris Games.”

Twenty-two-year-old Gazzard was thrilled to return to the Olympic arena for her second Games, in a venue the team performed in last month in Paris.

“It’s so special,” she said. “To be able to share this Games with my family and use my experiences from Tokyo and give them to the younger girls who are doing it for the first time, is an honour.

“We’re training together all the time, our teammates are like family. We’re really embracing every step on our journey to Paris.”

“The venue in Paris is beautiful. There's skylights where the natural light comes in and there's a bit of reflection on the ceiling.

“We ended up getting a PB in the free team and finishing fourth for that event with no base mark. That was our last event in Paris before we return for the Olympics, so it’s looking good.”

A regular day of training can include hours of on land training of gym, cardio and stretching, with several hours in the pool to hone the fitness and techniques needed to excel on the global stage. This can include athletes training with kilo weights on their ankles to improve their explosiveness and endurance.

Zoe Poulis said being selected for her first Olympic Team was surreal.

“It’s something that I've been looking forward to in the distance for so long and now that it's actually within a reach, I, I can't even believe it,” she said. “I'm just so excited.”

“I love how creative and performance based artistic swimming is. It's super hard, but it's also an art form. I love that it challenges me every day, not only physically, but mentally.

“Having a whole team of girls around me that are doing the exact same thing it just pushes me more and more every day. It’s the greatest feeling ever when we nail a routine, you just know you and it feels like our hard work has paid off.

The 18-year-old shares her creative side in videos showing off skills learned through artistic swimming.

“Artistic swimming is such a mixture of grace and athleticism. I love showing that off – the videos are different from our competition of course, but it’s cool that it can spark people’s curiosity and get more people interested in learning about our sport.”

Lúcás Ó’Ceallacháin, General Manager of Performance and Pathways at Artistic Swimming Australia, welcomed today’s announcement.

“We’re incredibly proud of this group of athletes and all the hard work that they’ve done to reach this point. Our centralised program has been a real game changer for the team, but none of the success would be possible without their hard work dedication and passion.

“We’re very excited to see what the team can achieve in Paris.”

Natalia Caloiero has been named as the travelling reserve.

The Artistic Swimming competition will be held at the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis from 5 to 10 August 2024.