Diving into the secrets of Team USA's artistic swimming routines with head coach Andrea Fuentes
From "crazy" to "masterpiece" – four-time Olympic medalist Andrea Fuentes sheds light on her innovative choreography process.
In the world of artistic swimming, creativity is everything.
Four-time Olympic medalist and Team USA head coach Andrea Fuentes sat down with Olympics.com to illuminate her unconventional ways of crafting the spectacular artistic swimming routines that captivate audiences worldwide.
As she watches the sport evolve and become more demanding, she has proved that to stay at the forefront of innovation, constantly pushing boundaries in the pool is key.
Routines, like puzzles, come together in a plethora of different ways, but for Fuentes, "embracing boredom" is the secret ingredient.
“When you stop insisting, suddenly it comes,” she explained.
“But you have to have patience.”
Take the revolutionary robot routine that Team USA internationally debuted at the 2021 FINA World Series in Barcelona. Fuentes’ idea was called “weird” and “crazy,” before the label shifted to “masterpiece.” It became the most-watched video in artistic swimming history.
“It’s about not being afraid of the opinion of others,” she said.
She acknowledged the unconventionality of the idea and ran with it.
The process of a new routine, according to Andrea Fuentes
When engineering new routines, Fuentes explained that it’s the moments of emptiness in day-to-day life – the car, the shower, the solitude of a plane ride – that create deliberate spaces where original ideas surface, and according to her, the weirder the better.
It’s a cocktail of inspiration that filters into this unfilled space and she looks to all forms of art and nature when developing the idea, before factoring in the individuality of each member in the pool.
Being labeled “weird” and “crazy” epitomizes how Fuentes wants her ideas to be seen as the puzzle pieces fall together.
Then, behind closed doors, she and her team bring the ideas to life.
They take the “crazy” and they work it into a masterpiece.
Swimmers of Team United States compete in Artistic Swimming - Team Acrobatic Routine at Centro Acuatico del Estadio Nacional on Day 14 of Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games on November 03, 2023 in Santiago, Chile.
Fuentes’ journey to Team USA head coach and choreographer
Tracing her journey into coaching and choreography back to her own decorated career as a four-time Olympic and 16-time World Championship medalist, Fuentes was fueled by a sense of duty to share her experience with the next generation of artistic swimmers.
“It didn’t make sense that I had so much in my head - so much knowledge after 20 years of swimming - that I thought it was not right to just throw it in the garbage and not give it all to others.
“I felt like my duty was to give back what I received. And because I felt like I still had so much inside.”
Throughout her career as an artistic swimmer, contributing to the choreography of her own routines was one of her favorite elements of the sport. She described her coach as “humble,” explaining that she understood the value in shared ideas and the fact that routines were more successful when they came from collaboration; something she has carried forward into her own style of coaching.
As Fuentes wrapped up her own career as a swimmer and decided that she had too much to give to step away from the sport, she came across a full-time coaching position with Team USA.
It was a no brainer, she said, as the Catalonia-native was ready for “an adventure in another country” and it had been the United States’ artistic swimming team that changed the trajectory of her life after she watched them take Olympic gold at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
The then 13-year-old was enthralled by the United States’ routine and recorded it on her VCR. When telling the story, she laughed as she talked about proceeding to watch the recording “over and over and on repeat until it was broken.”
Nearly three decades later, Fuentes in five years in to driving that very team in their pursuit back to the Olympic podium in Paris.
Ona Carbonell and Andrea Fuentes of Spain pose with their bronze medals after the Synchronized Swimming Technical Duets final during Day Three of the 14th FINA World Championships at the Oriental Sports Center on July 18, 2011 in Shanghai, China.
Behind the scenes of Team USA: Everyday training
For eight hours a day, six days a week Team USA’s all-star artistic swimming team are grinding towards the ultimate goal: Olympic gold.
As of December 2023, the United States has not yet obtained an Olympic quota and have not had a team appear in the Games since Beijing 2008 where they walked away having taken fifth place. They have since had duets, but with two team Olympic golds, one silver and one bronze since that pivotal moment of Fuentes’ life in 1996, the Spaniard is leading the charge for USA’s climb back to the top.
For the U.S. to have a full team in Paris, they will have to finish in the top five of teams at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha from 2 - 18 February (excluding teams who have already obtained a quota).
Fuentes and the rest of Team USA are confident that they will make an appearance in Paris where they plan on making a splash and bringing the United States back onto the podium.
- As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
- Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.