Gunn High School sophomore Olivia Zhu’s morning starts at 5 a.m. — hours before what you might expect. But for the artistic swimmer, it’s a necessity that allows her to practice four hours each evening.
Now on the Youth Junior National Team, Zhu represents the U.S. internationally, most recently at the World Aquatics Youth Artistic Swimming Championships in Athens, Greece. The sport, formerly known as synchronized swimming, is a mixture of swimming, dance and gymnastics, and involves performing complex underwater routines without goggles or touching the pool floor.
Zhu began artistic swimming at six years old when her mom signed her up for a swimming camp. Over time, with the support of her coaches, she acclimated more to the pool environment and became interested in the sport. The following year, Zhu joined the novice artistic swimming program at Santa Clara Aquamaids where she later progressed to the national level.
After earning a spot on the Santa Clara Aquamaid Youth A team, Zhu began training under 2008 Olympian and five-time World Champion Olga Kuzhela. Joining the A team also solidified her commitment to artistic swimming — a somewhat “unconscious” decision, Zhu said.
“[Optional practices] would be optional, but it’s not really optional,” Zhu said. “That kind of mindset follows you. And it follows me and it’s still with me.”
As part of the top youth team, Zhu and a few other teammates traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia for two weeks under Kuzela’s coaching. Yet, the year-round, packed training schedule and rigorous Olympic-style coaching made 12-year-old Zhu and her teammates seriously consider quitting. It was only once they realized they wouldn’t see each other daily if they quit that they collectively decided to stay.
“You’re always really close with your teammates, especially the ones that you swim with,” former teammate Hannah Ryou said.
Despite Zhu’s exceptional stamina and power, she struggled to express herself throughout routines with acting and facial movement, Kuzhuela said. To overcome this, she continued to work on creative elements to become a better all-around artistic swimmer.
“Finally she opened up and could do anything she could never do before,” Kuzhela said.
While her performance quality and skills may seem effortless now, Zhu constantly aims to improve by asking her coaches for corrections, Kuzhuela said. In addition to refining and applying critiques, Zhu practices up to 28 hours in the pool per week and cross-trains by lifting weights.
Inspired by her own experiences, Zhu now runs @aquavillee on Instagram, where she plans to build an international community where members can share motivational tips, understand sports psychology and discuss how to better manage the stress associated with being a student-athlete.
“I really want to bring all athletes on all levels closer [together],” she said.
