Olympics 2024: China wins gold in artistic swimming, US bags silver

China took gold in the artistic swimming team event Wednesday night at the Paris Olympics, with the United States getting silver and Spain taking bronze.

China dominated in the absence of Russia, which had won every gold medal in artistic beginning with the 2000 Sydney Games.

China finished with 996.1389 points, ahead of the Americans' 914.3421 and Spain's 900.7319. It was the first U.S. medal in the sport since 2004.

It was a big medal for China, and also a step forward for the sport, which changed its name from synchronized swimming several years ago to update its image. Some swimmers still call it synchro.

There is attention to the sport that has never happened before, said Adam Andrasko, who heads USA Artistic Swimming. This is an absolutely different sport.

The smiles, the makeup and hair gelatin remain, but this is no longer the water ballet beneath flowery rubber caps that your grandparents watched.

Wednesday's acrobatic routines, after technical and free routines on Monda