Dedieu claims gold
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ByEurosport
Published 09/05/2004 at 11:56 GMT
France's Virginie Dedieu claimed the gold medal in the synchronized swimming solo free routine at the European Championships on Saturday. The 24-year-old twice defending champion came in first with a total of 99.600 points, ahead of Russia's Natalia Ichtc
Eurosport
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Dedieu, trained by Odile Petit, received three perfect marks of 10 and four 9.9 for her technical performance.
Her artistical impression was marked with a flawless 10 and two other 9.9.
She has been leading the competition after the technical routine which took place on Wednesday in Madrid.
"This title shows that I am above all the others", she told French sports daily L'Equipe.
"The marks, especially the 10, confirm that what I did has pleased the judges. It's a big satisfaction."
Dedieu, who reigns on the synchonized swimming since her world title in 2003, is due to take part in the duet event on Sunday with teammate Laure Thibaud.
Russian Natalia Ichtchenko finished second with 97.800, while crowd favourite Gemma Mengual from Spain claimed bronze with 97.300.
Even if the gold medal was out of her reach, Mengual was a bit disappointed by her third place:
"I was surprised that the technical merit was very similar [to Ichtchenko] but the artistic impression was so different", she declared.
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