Pruny skin and noseclips

Little svelte legs of three 10- to 11-year-olds jut straight up out of the pool’s blue surface and begin to scissor and bend with more force than a guillotine. The kids are part of the Sacramento Synchronized Swim Team, practicing at the Mira Loma High School pool, and head coach Olga Molotilova oversees from the pool’s deck. Born and raised in Moscow, Molotilova was terrified of water as a little girl. So her mother took her to the pool for swimming lessons, and the 6-year-old “loved the appearance” of the synchronized swimming coach and convinced the coach to take her on.

Molotilova racked up gold and silver medals at national competitions in Europe, and at 16 she began traveling to perform professionally in Morocco, Taiwan, China, France (at Disneyland Paris, no less) and Malaysia. She eventually found herself in Sacramento and has been coaching the team of 28 girls, ages 6-18, since 2006.

And thanks to her living abroad, she speaks four languages, but does still retain a charming Russian accent.

How is the synch swimming here different than in Russia?

It’s really, really different. First of all, Russian synchronized swimmers are first in the world, like almost 16 years. They dominate this sport … because there’s a lot of support from government, and there is big selection of the swimmers. It’s a very popular sport, so the synch swimmers, they are famous people there. They work very hard, they have unlimited access to the pool. For example, if I want to come and spend 10 hours practice in the pool, it’s no problem, you can do that. Here, you can’t. The swimming pool is very expensive and to find good pool is very, very hard. And the funding is very, very high price, so that is why it is a very expensive sport here, and why many people cannot afford it and not very popular. … I’m little bit upset about it, because it’s a beautiful sport for the girls. …

But it's different mentality here. … In the United States, what I notice is a lot of kids try a little bit of everything: “This month I will do soccer, next month I will do gymnastic, I will do basketball or volleyball”—but if you want to be successful athlete, you have to be able to concentrate on only one sport.

The government funds the program?

Yes. For example, there is no monthly dues—[at] some of the pools there are monthly dues, but not so many. If you go to competition, it’s sponsored by government, and when you reach Olympics or national team, you will get paid. So the government pays you salary, because that’s what you do, that’s your job. But here, if you get to the national team, you still have to fundraise and pay something to be on that team and compete.

Do you still swim?

Yes. We have an annual show that’s coming up on August 23, [and] we have routine, like mother and daughter, because my daughter, she is swimming. …

She's 10. So she's doing synchronized swimming, and she's member of the national team of USA. And last year we swam together [in our show]. … I swim sometimes. Not very often, but I do swim.

When you were training, did you always have pruny skin?

Yes! I always smelled [of] chlorine. I remember in Moscow, we took an underground subway after practice, and couple of the girls, [our] hair smells like chlorine, and the people were like (sniffs), “What's that smell?” next to us.

Are those noseclips uncomfortable?

Oh, it was like my skin. It was my life, because I was always wearing noseclip. [It’s] absolutely comfy, people don’t realize that.

What else would people be surprised to learn?

The people think synchronized swimming is about being beautiful, glitter, and just beautiful costumes and smile. … I want people to realize that the girls, for a month of the practice, two hours, three hours, they don’t touch the wall. They tread the water. They don’t touch the bottom of the pool, they don’t rest. … And when we perform, it’s three minutes, and out of the three minutes it’s probably like a minute under the water just holding the breath.

Are you competitive in other ways?

I’m very competitive with my kids. When we go to the competition, I’m feeling like I’m swimming. [When] the girls winning, I’m the happiest person on Earth. …

I can't say I'm competitive [otherwise]; I don't do other sports. I go barely to gym, because I think I did my dues (laughs). Twenty-five years of synchronized swimming! I paid my dues!

You practice outdoors year-round. Does it ever feel like torture?

Absolutely. When it’s pouring rain … and I could be wet. Even my underwear—sorry—could be wet. So I feel miserable. And they—in the pool, because the pool is heated—they just don’t care. They’re already wet. … So, yeah, I feel like it’s torture to myself, not to them.

Do you go back to Russia?

Yes. I was there in September. My daughter, she was practicing there with the team there in Moscow [for a month]. …. We’re competing with the best teams in the United States, in Santa Clara, Walnut Creek, the best teams who produce Olympians. It’s very hard to compete with them, because they have like hundred-something people and so many resources. … On the last regional competition, we actually beat them, so we’re going to nationals in Seattle on June 27.