Second gold for swimmer

Press, 14 August 1984, Page 30

Second gold for swimmer

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles

Tracie Ruiz, of the United States, added the solo gold medal to her duet title as the Olympic synchronised swimming ended yesterday. The Hawaiian-born Ruiz scored a high 99.00 in the final four-minute routine for a winning total of 198.457 points. Ruiz, who won the duet with Candy Costie on Thursday, finished an impressive three points clear of the Canadian, Carolyn Waldo. Miwako Motoyoshi of Japan, third in the duet, took another bronze medal. The solo competition was accepted into the Games only three months ago. The organisers scheduled the event into the final day’s programme to help compensate for the Soviet bloc

boycott. Ruiz delighted the 12,000 crowd when she opened her routine with a 50-second underwater sequence which included 15 variations. Swimming more strongly than in the preliminaries, Ruiz, the world champion, had 12 changes in music and was rewarded with a perfect 10 from the Japanese judge. Waldo received four 9.9 s in her routine, but could not narrow the large lead established by the American in the compulsory figures. The Canadian coach, Debbie Muir, felt the high scoring in the figures had produced a pattern of predictability. “I think Tracie was judged on who she was in the figures, not what she did,” said Muir.