Olympics artistic swimming: Kate Shortman & Izzy Thorpe take historic silver

Shortman and Thorpe, who are both from Bristol, have known each other since they were little and have been swimming together since the age of nine.

Thorpe’s mum Karen competed alongside Shortman’s mother Maria in the 1980s and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Shortman told the BBC earlier this year that she and Thorpe hoped to “carry on the legacy” of their mothers in Paris.

They have not only done that, but also made history.

Britain’s previous best finish in artistic swimming – formerly synchronised swimming – was the fourth place achieved by Caroline Holmyard and Carolyn Wilson in Los Angeles in 1984, when the event made its Olympic debut.

Their Olympic medal has been brewing for a while, having become the first Britons to win a duet medal at the World Championships earlier this year – where they took a silver and bronze.

Their rise has been helped by an overhaul of the sport’s scoring system last year, which made it less subjective and played more to their technical strengths.

There are now two judging panels, looking at the elements of a routine and artistic impression, while the pairs declare the difficulty of their routine themselves before swimming.

The previous system had 15 judges who scored across every aspect.

Shortman had considered quitting the sport before the change and the duo’s Rising Phoenix routine is a tribute to the scoring system change, which has now yielded the reward of an Olympic medal.

They are not sure how they will celebrate the success yet, with Thorpe saying “it’s all very overwhelming” at the moment, although she has managed to hug her mum already.

“Probably just stare at the medal, cry, touch the medal,” Shortman said with a laugh.