(Beijing, April 16) - Comments from Nadine Brandl(AUT), Elisabeth Mahn (AUT), Beatrice Adelizzi (ITA), Laura De Renzis (ITA), Harada Saho (JPN) and Suzuki Emiko (JPN) after the duet technical routine of the Olympic Games Synchronised Swimming Qualification Tournament 2008 at the National Aquatics Center.

Nadine Brandl (AUT)

On the team's performance:
"Our performance was not so bad.  We started off somewhat slow, but we became stronger as we continued the routine."

Elisabeth Mahn (AUT)

On changes in preparation after the Championship games in Melvin:
"We conditioned much more.  Before we would often start off well, but would not finish as strong. Today we started off slower, but we felt very strong in finishing the routine, mostly thanks to our conditioning habits."

On what inspired the theme:
 "We watched a big show for Christmas that included animals and dealt with evolution. We liked the show so much we decided to try and emulate the concept in our routine."

Beatrice Adelizzi (ITA)

On her performance with partner Giulia Lapi (ITA):
"We felt very well during the performance. That was better than we did in the European Championships. We did better on the technique. But we made some mistakes in the sychronisation, which actually always happened during our training."

On their strength training:
"We trained a lot for this tournament, the training included the gymnastics, weight strength and also ballet."

On their expectation for this tournament:
"We don't think we have a chance to get medal, but we will do our best. Our goal this time is the fourth place. And for the Olympics we want to be the sixth."

Laura De Renzis (ITA) - coach

On the performance of Adelizzi and Lapi:
"Technically they were a lot better. Technically they made many corrections that we have been working on in the last few days. Synchronisation, a little lack of synchronisation on easy things. Maybe they were concentrating on other things."

On the Italian duet's preparations ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in August:
"We will continue to train in our home country. We will have one or two more competitions before the Olympic Games."
 
Harada Saho (JPN)

On being 4th to start:
"It's believed that starting order may affect the performance, but I think the most important thing is to focus on technical elements."

On the pool:
"We need to pay attention to our positions in the pool, because it's too large."

On the free routine (on Friday):
"Russian team is very strong, and we are learning from them. However, we are trying to achieve our top level in the competition ."

Suzuki Emiko (JPN)

On their performance:
"The key is to keep our own pace."

On the pool:
"The swimming pool is much larger than the pool in Japan, maybe it's because China is much bigger."