Courtesy of: The Morning News
Recently, in Arizona during the 2014 U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Championships, 2 Aruban athletes stood out for their stellar performance. Anouk Eman won a gold medal in the Synchronized Swimming Duets, Senior Category – Technical Routine while young Kyra Hoevertsz won 2 gold medals in the Junior Category, in both team and combo team.
These are only two of Aruba’s two world class synchronized swimming athletes. Kyra and Anouk study and train in the U.S. and during their school year they compete for their university or club.
Anouk Eman has been training and competing for four years with the Lindenwood University team. In 2013 Anouk and her duet partner made island history, winning their first gold medal during the national championships. This year, Anouk again won the maximum title and became US National Champion in Synchronized Swimming Duets – Technical Routine. Anouk, together with Mary Killman, performed a tremendous routine to a Caribbean music mixture they called “Aruban Fiesta.” The catchy song was well received by public and judges alike, which earned them the highest score.
Kyra Hoevertsz competed with her club, the “Walnut Creek Aquanauts,” in the junior category. She was a contender in the technical routine against 168 other competitors, finishing in 8th place to receive a ribbon.
In her next event she competed with the Walnut Creek Aquanauts. They made it to the final round in second place, right behind their arch rivals, the Santa Clara Aqua Maids. Finally Kyra’s team earned the highest score, winning first place and the gold medal.
Kyra competed in more events; she participated in a routine which is a combination of several in one. Usually the combo team has 10 athletes, but they have more freedom in their choreography. During this routine the Walnut Greek Aquanauts won first place and a golden medal.
Kyra and Anouk are now on vacation, from school and their clubs. They are preparing themselves a duet routine to represent Aruba in international championships. In June, they will participate in the Swiss Open in Montreux, Switzerland. Afterwards they will compete in the U.S. Open, in Nevada and in August in the UANA/Pan American Championships in Riverside, California.
All these synchronized swimming events are in preparation for the XXII Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, scheduled to take place in Veracruz, Mexico in November, 2014. There, the Aruban duet team must qualify in order to compete in the 2015 Pan American Games taking place in Toronto, Canada
The Aruba swimming Federation congratulates these 2 athletes and is confident in their success.
