Team, Open

Despite five-time gold medallist Anastasiya Davydova having retired, Russia was still a clear favourite for the team gold medal. With the duet gold medallists Nataliya Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina in their team, the Russians were expected to win the team competition for the fifth consecutive Games. China pushed them at the 2015 World Championships, where they could well have been the surprise gold medallists.

In Rio, Russia held the lead over China after the technical routine by 1.3932 points, with Japan and Ukraine fighting out the bronze medal position. Russia was even more impressive with a near flawless performance in the free routine and they easily won their fifth consecutive gold medal by 3.1598 points from China, who won their second consecutive team silver, and with Japan just holding on for the bronze medal by less than 0.05 of a point from Ukraine. Russia got three 10s in the free routine, one for execution and two for artistic impression.

Ishchenko and Romashina completed their own piece of Olympic history because they added their two gold medals from Rio to the two each had won in London and the one each won in 2008. Their total of five golds made them the most decorated synchronised swimmers alongside fellow Russian Davydova. Two other Russians, Aleksandra Patskevich and Alla Shishkina were members of both the winning 2012 and 2016 teams.