London, England – Russia swept the synchronized swimming events for the fourth straight Olympics, winning the team event Friday.
Duet gold medalists Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina were part of the nine-member team that wrapped up a gold medal after the free routine.
Russia scored 197.03 points, pulling away from China and Spain on the last day of synchronized swimming at the London Olympics. Russians have now won every gold in the team and duets competition since 2000.
"We have got programs that are completely different and that is inspiring. Here, at this level, it is so fantastically inventive," said Russian coach Tatiana Pokrovskaya.
China, which started the day 1.1 points back, ended 3.02 behind Russia for a silver medal and Spain finished 3.91 points back for the bronze.
The two countries swapped places from the duets competition, when Spain won silver and China bronze.
Canada was fourth in the team event, 3.49 points out of medal contention.
Points from the technical and free routines were combined to determine the medal winners.
The United States, which was represented here by Mary Killman and Mariya Koroleva in the duets competition, failed to qualify a synchronized swimming team for the first time ever at the Olympics.
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