Cupertino teen Ding finds artistry in her swimming
Cupertino teen Emily Ding is within her rights to consider swimming an art form. The 17-year-old is a member of the national artistic swimming team headed to the 2021 Junior Pan American Games.
The games are set to begin Nov. 25 in Colombia, with the artistic swimming competition taking place Dec. 2-4. Ding is among nine artistic swimmers from across the country to make the team, which will be competing with athletes ages 17-22 from the Americas. The team began training this summer at UCLA. Artistic swimming — the new name for synchronized swimming — involves team, duet and mixed duet competitions.
Emily, a former member of the Santa Clara Aquamaids, competed in the 2019 FINA Youth World Championships. FINA is the international federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee for administering international competitions in water sports.
Her other accomplishments include second place in the team and combination competitions and third in duet at the 2019 U.S. National Championship and first place in team and combo and second in duet at the 2017 U.S. Junior Olympic Championship.
Emily began artistic swimming at age 7 and currently trains about 24 hours a week. She transitioned from Monta Vista High School to an online school after moving into an apartment with teammates from the Team USA junior training squad, a program designed to lead athletes to the Olympics.
While the rigorous schedule curtailed her social life and required good time management skills, she said the decision to continue swimming has always been an easy one.
Emily’s one regret is having to leave the Aquamaids after making the national team.
“I always thought I would swim with the Aquamaids through my senior year,” she told El Estoque, Monta Vista’s student news website, in March. “It just makes me sad to know I won’t be seeing them every day anymore.”
For more information about the 2021 Junior Pan American Games, go to panamsports.org/sportevents/cali-2021-juniorpanam-american-games. To follow the squad’s journey to Colombia, go to facebook.com/USAArtisticSwimming.