An Olympic Medal and Legacy That Will Live Forever: Thank You Andrea Fuentes
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by USA Artistic Swimming
Moments ago, the Spanish Artistic Swimming Federation announced the hiring of what we have come to call the greatest coach in the world, Andrea Fuentes. As we share this news with the USA Artistic Swimming (USAAS) community, there is sadness in our hearts. These emotions are to be expected, because her impact over the last five years and ten months has made an impression that will last a lifetime within the USAAS family.
However, we must also celebrate for so many reasons. This next step for her and her family is the opportunity of a lifetime. Victor Cano, USAAS acrobatics coach, two-time gymnastic Olympian for Spain, and Andrea’s husband, will also start a position in Spain as the assistant coach of the Women’s Gymnastics National Team. Not only will Andrea be the coach for her home country where she is the most decorated female Olympic athlete to date, but her family will also be reconnected.
As we begin to reflect on Fuentes’ time with the organization, we are quickly reminded how special it has been. In November 2018 the national team and the organization were in a challenging position and the future was far from promising. USAAS leadership saw something in Andrea that was unique. This gave her the opportunity to show her greatest qualities. Her passion, energy, and belief, but most importantly her love for athletes and the sport of artistic swimming. It is those qualities that would project the future for USAAS.
Andrea set out to redefine the way the sport was coached and show that her specific method could lead to success. After a year, the plan began to materialize. Athletes, coaches and the remaining USAAS community witnessed the shift in the team, but then a worldwide pandemic attempted to put a halt to the progression in March of 2020.
It was hard for so many of us, but that is when Andrea’s love and passion for the sport began to shine, and she began to show the international artistic swimming community who she was. She began to lead the artistic swimming world by Zoom, inviting all of us into her living room for daily workouts that showcased her great skill and engaging personality. She gave so many of us an outlet when we had so few, she gave us a smile when they were hard to find, and she helped us see the future when it was hard to get through a day.
Through her leadership the national team, the organization and the artistic swimming community battled through difficult times and as a leader she reminded us to set our sights on the next opportunity in our lives. For Andrea and the team it was the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. After dealing with the pandemic and developing a relationship with coach Fuentes, the 2020 Senior National Team and coaching staff came together to create the Robot routine that will go down in artistic swimming history because of its creativity, difficulty and unique performance.
If you are familiar with this story, you know it is just short of a fairytale ending. This dream came up .211 short of USAAS qualifying their first team to the Olympic Games since 2008. Hearts across the organization were shattered. To this day, this experience still stings, but the women of that team turned everything around with the guidance of Andre. They built a foundation of believers that didn’t exist a few short years prior.
Struggle can stop progress, but for the greats, struggle is where they find strength. After that heartbreak, the fire burned brighter than ever in Fuentes. The program moved to LA and some new pieces joined the mission following a new scoring system that would change the sport forever.
The program made another leap due to Andrea and her team’s hard work. In 2023 Team USA medaled at the World Championship for the first time in over a decade. Due to the team’s success, the belief in the bigger picture grew even stronger.
Little did we all know that the toughest test of all was yet to come. In November of 2023 at the Pan American Games USA had their first chance to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games. Mexico came out .668 points ahead of the stars and stripes stripping away the Gold Medal and USA’s ticket to Paris.
As they did in 2021, our hearts broke, but it only pushed the program harder. The team regrouped and prepared for what they knew would be the greatest challenge of their lives, the final chance at qualification at the 2024 World Championship. This team faced multiple challenges and difficult situations, but always rose to the occasion and grew stronger with every swim. Therefore, there was no doubt this team would not fall short of this challenge.
Following six solid swims at the 2024 World Championships, USA qualified a Team to the Olympic Games for the first time in 16 years, the dream they had been working towards since Andrea’s arrival. The visual of the team's celebration when Olympic qualification was realized will be forever imprinted into our minds.
Reflecting on that moment, it is incredible how far the program and organization had come in just over five years due to Andrea and this hard-working group of athletes. The celebration was great, but it wasn’t enough. A new dream was now attainable. A dream that five years prior wasn’t imaginable. The opportunity for an Olympic medal was real and a new fire began to build, the passion and energy grew greater than ever before.
We all recently witnessed the most incredible of accomplishments on August 7th,. USA Artistic Swimming took Silver at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games making their performance the highest finish at an Olympic Games in 20 years under the leadership of Andrea Fuentes and her staff.
Passion, drive, creativity and love is what you see in Andrea every day. It is what makes her special. It is the reason that the world was captivated by the moonwalk and why with every swim from November 26th, 2018, until that medal hung from the necks of those eight incredible athletes that we grew stronger.
There are countless numbers of you that are reading this that are responsible for our success, but it all starts with a belief, an inspiration, a leader. While growing and learning every day she became our leader, the greatest coach in our sport. Her family gave us so much and we will always be grateful. Andrea Fuentes, the sport of artistic swimming is better because of you, USA Artistic Swimming has been forever changed, and we now have an Olympic Silver Medal to remind us of this time.
We are so proud to have had such a great leader within our organization, you will forever go down in history!
It has been my greatest professional honor to build this alongside Andrea. I will miss her and Victor, but we achieved what we set out to accomplish and I am so happy for them to start the next chapter of their incredible life story.
With a Heavy Heart, I Say Goodbye It is with a heavy heart that I announce the conclusion of my mission in the United States. When we first arrived, I knew our time here wasn’t permanent, but I didn’t realize just how deeply this journey would impact me. The experiences, challenges, and growth I’ve encountered in the US have shaped me in ways I could never have imagined. I came here with a vision to become the coach I always dreamed of being. The US, a country that changed my life as a child and inspired me to become an Olympian in Artistic Swimming, was the perfect place to pursue this dream. From the very beginning, this country believed in me, even when I was just starting out as a coach. The road wasn’t easy—adapting to a new culture and environment brought many challenges—but each obstacle made me stronger, more resilient, and more determined. I leave with immense gratitude for all the experiences and the incredible people who have been part of this journey. USA Artistic Swimming not only helped me build the coach I wanted to be but also shaped me into the person I am today. The growth I’ve experienced here is something I will carry with me forever. As much as I’ve cherished this chapter, the time has come for me to return to Spain, primarily to take care of my family. Their support and sacrifices have been the backbone of this journey, and now it’s my turn to give back to them. I’m ready to continue to grow as a coach in Spain as well and to spread the love for the sport in high performance. They say, “A good coach makes better athletes, and a great coach changes lives”. I hope I did! You certainly changed my life for the better. While I’m deeply saddened to leave behind the incredible momentum we’ve built and to miss out on future milestones like LA 2028, I know that the team here is more than capable of continuing the journey without me. Thank you, USA, for everything. Always forward!
Being part of this amazing project has been an honor and a tremendous life-learning experience. I am a much better coach now than I was before, and that is something the swimmers have given me, for which I will always be grateful. We built a team like the ones that make history. We've created something that will be forever remembered within the crazy world of this magical sport, as well as deep in our hearts.
Our unique bond has been a guiding force, helping us navigate both the challenges and triumphs of our leadership in the USAAS program. I am profoundly grateful for the 5 years alongside Andrea. Andrea is not just a fierce leader; she is a unique individual who inspires everyone to strive for greatness. From our first meeting, she sparked my passion for coaching, teaching me the importance of love and empathy in our work. While it’s hard to see her go as she embarks on this new chapter with her family, I couldn't be happier for her and Victor. Their impact will continue to touch lives. Thank you, Andrea & Victor, for everything—you will be deeply missed.
