Synchronised swimming is very popular in many countries of the world. More than a century ago it was known as water ballet, but since 2017 it has been called artistic swimming. The Russian team is one of the best teams in synchronised (artistic) swimming in the world. The Russian athletes won the gold medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Their names are Vlada Chigireva, Natalia Ishchenko, Svetlana Kolesnichenko, Aleksandra Patskevich, Svetlana Romashina, Alla Shishkina, Maria Shurochkina, Elena Prokofyeva and Gelena Topilina.
N. Ishchenko and S. Romashina also won the Olympic competition of duets in Brazil.
The coach of the Russian team is Tatyana Pokrovskaya.
But other countries also have strong teams and duets in synchronised (artistic) swimming. For example, the Chinese and Japanese athletes won the silver and bronze medals in Brazil.
The Russian athletes were also winners at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Hungary. They won 8 medals (including 7 gold medals). The Chinese team won 5 medals (but only one of them was gold).