Tribune News Network
Doha
IOC President Thomas Bach on Saturday attended the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 as he joined excited fans in watching the final of the Mixed 10m Synchronized Diving at the world-class Hamad Aquatic Centre.
Accompanying the IOC President were World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam, World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowickiand Doha 2024 General Director Khaleel Al Jaber along with senior members of World Aquatics, Doha 2024 and IOC Administration.
The delegates watched on as the Chinese pair Jianjie Huang and Jiaqi Zhang claimed gold with a dominant performance.
Speaking following the event, President Bach said: "I am very happy to be back in Qatar. The facilities are really wonderful for all the divers and the swimmers and we have seen a great competition and the Qatari hospitality is famous all over the world.”
Commenting on the record level of participation at the World Championships, he said: "We appreciate this very much as it shows the global appeal of swimming and the global appeal of the Olympic Games because they are all striving for qualification for Paris so I can only congratulate World Aquatics very much for this great result and this really global participation.”
Asked about men competing in artistic swimming for the first time at an Olympic Games, President Bach added: "We are looking for gender parity and this is what we’re going to achieve in Paris and for this mixed events are very much important because they encourage women in counties whose culture is not necessarily in favour of women’s sports to practice sport and to be involved and we can see very good results of these initiatives and in Paris we will be there with gender parity across all sports.”
Van Rouwendaal
takes 10km gold
Sharon van Rouwendaal showed why she is considered one of the greatest open water swimmers ever on Saturday morning as she won the 10km gold medal and an automatic berth to her fourth straight Olympics. The nearly two-hour race came down to the final touch as van Rouwendaal, who was near the front of the pack the entire way, won by a tenth in a photo finish over Spain’s Maria de Valdes.
"The feeling of winning is very special,” van Rouwendaal said. "I had told myself that I was going to be the World Champion. I never say it out loud, but I kept my confidence.
"The greatest challenge is the conditions in water as it is open water and you never know what can happen. I had every scenario in my head and was confident that I was going to win this. Everyone kept asking me to keep my eyes on Paris but for me, I had to grab this win to level.”
Van Rouwendaal touched at 1:57:26.8 to de Valdes’s 1:57:26.9, who won her first medal at a World Championships and qualified for her first Olympics at age 25.
"This is a dream come true for me,” Valdes said. "I was working for this all those years. I was out of Tokyo so I am very grateful for this result.
"It was a very special day for me today and I dedicate this medal to my father who passed away three months ago,” Valdes continued. "It is very painful and it was very hard months for me before this championship. So, this result and this medal is very important to me.”
Portugal’s Angelica Andre won the bronze medal at 1:57:28.2 to upgrade her 15th place from last year’s Worlds in Fukuoka.