Chinese synchronized swimmers Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting got much motivation from a pre-game video communication with their daughters to finish second in the preliminary of duet technical at the 17th FINA World Championships here on Friday.
"I had a video communication with my daughter, which I think gave me much power," said Jiang Wenwen.
The twin sisters finished second in duet technical and duet free in the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, before announcing their retirement later in the same year.
In 2015, they each decided to make a comeback after having daughters. They claimed gold medals at the Chinese National Games, a quadrennially held event, this May.
For their sixth appearance at the worlds, all they wanted was to enjoy as much as they could.
"We feel great joy to come back, and it's more about enjoying the atmosphere here," said Jiang Wenwen.
"Maybe we felt too much pressure before, but it's totally different this time, as we just want to show our best to the audiences," she added.
The duo earned 92.9033 points, more than two points shy of the Russian duo of Svetlana Kolesnichenko and Alexandra Patskevich.
Following their performance, their coach Zheng Jia responded with clapping in smile.
"The coach was satisfied with our performance. We should be better in the final," commented Jiang Tingting, adding that the outdoor competition have little influence on their performance.
"Having competed many times under these conditions, we have been used to that," she said.
For Tingting, they could get nine points out of ten for their debut at the 2017 worlds in the Hungarian capital.
She hoped that if allowed, their daughters could watch their performance in Sunday's final on TV back in China.
Maybe more motivation for them then?
