China's artistic swimming duo Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting made history on Tuesday by winning a sixth gold at the Asian Games, the most earned by any athletes in artistic swimming in its history. Making the twin sisters achievement more remarkable is the fact that both returned from giving birth to baby daughters to do so.
"I've been their coach for over 20 years," said Zheng Jia, Women's Duet coach, "ever since they were 8 years old. When they came back after having babies, their training plans were completely changed. I think they have now demonstrated that female athletes can return to their best form after having a baby."
Wenwen and Tingting announced their retirement after finishing a controversial third at the 2013 China National Games. They went on to get married on the same day and their baby daughters arrived in 2015 and 2016. And after a three year absence, the twins decided to come back to the pool.
"I think to reach a mature state in artistic swimming, athletes have to go through years of training. We have arrived at that state now. So what keeps us going is our love for the sport, " said Jiang Tingting.
The 31-year-old twins won a well-deserved gold at the 2017 China National Games which qualified them for the Budapest World Championships where they finished second as the oldest athletes in the event. At this, their third Asian Games, Wenwen and Tingting claimed their sixth gold at the multi-sports meet, a record in Artistic swimming at the Games, and a result their coach wasn't sure could happen when they first decided to come back.
"Because of our love of the sport, we overcame many hard times. Especially physical obstacles, and now I think we are even better than before," said Jiang Wenwen.
To be a mother while training and competing at the highest level means this gold medal seems much more than any other from before.
"We've competed for the third time here, and each victory is like a milestone for us. But this time, the gold medal is an acknowledgement to us, " said Tingting.
At 31-year-old, the twins seem to have overturned any suspicion that they might not be able to perform as flawlessly as before. Wenwen said they will definitely be in Tokyo if they have the opportunity. Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting will be 33-year-old in 2020, but if they make it to the Tokyo Olympics, they might just rewrite history one more time.
