Natalia Ishchenko

Five-time Olympic champion Natalia Ishchenko is one of the most successful synchronized swimmers of all time. Also nineteen-time world champion, Ishchenko won gold in the women’s duet at two Olympic Games with Svetlana Romashina (2012 and 2016) and was a member of the gold medal-winning Russian team on three occasions in 2008, 2012 and 2016. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) named her Synchronized Swimming Athlete of the year in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and FINA Female Synchronized Athlete of the Year in 2016 (shared with Romashina). Ishchenko was named Swimmer of the Year for four consecutive years (from 2009 to 2012) by the European Swimming Federation. She received the Order of Honour from the president of the Russian Federation in recognition of her two gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in 2016 and was honoured with the title of Honoured Master of Sport in the Russian Federation

Born in Smolensk, Russia, Ishchenko won her first gold medal at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in 2008. In 2013 Ishchenko took a break from synchronized swimming to start a family and gave birth to her son. She made a splash with her return in 2015 when she won the women’s team and duet events at the European Synchro Cup, sealing her qualification for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

After winning two more Olympic gold medals in Rio, Ishchenko retired from synchronized swimming in 2014, and now serves as the Vice Minister of Sports of Kaliningrad Oblast.