Duet, Women

The favorites were the American twin sisters, Karen and Sarah Josephson, who had won the silver medal in 1988, were the 1991 World Champions, and had not lost a duet competition since the 1988 Olympics. As the United States and Canada dominated synchronized swimming in this era, the Canadian duo of Penny and Vicky Vilagos were expected to provide their competition. Also twin sisters, the Vilagos’s had won a silver medal at the 1983 Pan-American Games but had been out of competition since 1987. In the end, it was not close, as the Josephsons led in both stages of the competition. For the third straight Olympics, the podium consisted of an American, Canadian, and Japanese duo. The gold/silver medals by twins was only the second time this had occurred at the Olympics, the other time occurring in 1980 coxless pairs rowing, won by the Landvoigt twins (GDR), with the Pimenov twins (URS) taking silver.