Laura Strugnell and Clarissa Johnston came out of retirement to take a shot at the Olympics and made history by qualifying in the Synchronised Swimming Women on behalf of SA for the first time in 29 years.
South Africa (31 May 2021) – South African synchronised swimmers Laura Strugnell and Clarissa Johnston have come out of retirement to fly the South African flag at the Olympics.
Laura and Clarissa have shared their thoughts on what is has felt like to qualify for the Olympics. It has been many many years since a women’s synchronised swimming team has qualified to represent SA at the Olympics.
‘Most people believe synchronised swimming is all about being exactly the same. Most people haven’t met Laura Strugnell and Clarissa Johnston, the duet representing South Africa at the 2021 Olympic Games in Japan. What sets them apart is their goal: to show young South Africans that being brilliant in synchro isn’t about looking a certain way, having a certain body type, or being the same height, but about working hard, nurturing creativity, and smashing goals against every setback.
And there have been many. After years of synchro in SA and later at a US university, Clarissa closed the door on the sport back in 2014. Laura was later to leave, deciding to retire in 2019 when it looked as if SASCOC would not send synchronised swimmers to the Olympics. Shortly after, she qualified the country as part of a duet at her fifth World Championships event earlier in the same year.
Six months later, when it was announced that a duet would be sent, Laura decided to come out of retirement but needed to find a new duet partner and, in February 2020, approached Clarissa, by then a successful career professional in financial technology. At a turning point in her personal life, Clarissa said yes, and together the duo began training.
Until lockdown happened, Clarissa remembers volunteering at a soup kitchen with Laura during lockdown: ‘Afterwards, we would run up and down the stairs at my apartment building and do floor workouts in the lounge’. Steadfast, the two decided to see lockdown as an opportunity and used Zoom and Instagram as a resource to find other athletes around the world and train using streamed workouts and remote coaching, an experience they say was transformative in their training.
Both admit that the South African Championships, and the training leading up to it, was an emotional rollercoaster and the most intense, high-stakes competition of their lives. Three weeks before the competition, they’d taken their private artswimduet_RSA Instagram account public and the sudden rush of support brought with it extra expectation and pressure, which sharpened the intensity of training.
After the gruelling lead-up, the challenging event, the international adjudication, and the suspenseful days of waiting for the results afterwards, they learned that they would be going to Tokyo.
“I’ve learned more in the last sixteen months, both as an athlete and as a person, than I have in my entire swimming career,” says Strugnell. Both agree that as a trust building process the training has been transformative.
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“Some athletes are fuelled by fear, others are fuelled by confidence. It’s taken mental training to move from the first to the second and the results have been incredible.”
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Ahead of training, they amp themselves up with music and focus on the massive trial ahead.
“Synchronised swimming is like doing a relay race,” says Johnston, “but one where you’re passing the baton back and forth all the time, so synchronising your mood and intentions is crucial.”
Discussing the competition in Tokyo, they say for them it’s about breaking the score of 70/100 that South Africa has never surpassed, but also about making South Africa proud and enjoying the moment.
“It’s been a really tough journey,” both agree. “But every minute of pain and shivering in the pool that you endure, every injury and setback that you overcome, is worth it in the end if you can inspire even one young swimmer.”
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