LONDON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Russia retained its synchronized swimming duet title at the London Olympics on Tuesday, while China for the first time made the podium at an Olympic duet event.

Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina scissor-kicked their way to the music of Suspiria, Amelie and Sleepy Hollow, collecting the highest 98.9 points in the duet free routine final.

They carried a top score of 98.2 points from Sunday's technical routine to a total of 197.10 points to clinch the gold.

Spain's Ballestero Carbonell and Andrea Fuentes Fache won the silver with 192.9 points, a slight 0.03 point over Chinese Huang Xuechen and Liu Ou who bagged a bronze medal.

Russia has swept both the duet and team titles in every Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Games.

The Russian duo, winners of the event at the 2009 Rome and 2011 Shanghai World Championships, were undisputed champions of the duet event in London as they treated a capacity crowd with near-perfect performances, leading both the technical routine and free routine with sizeable scores.

They almost sealed their victory after Sunday's technical routine, leaving Spanish and Chinese pairs to battle for a silver.

"We never consider Russian pair as our challengers because they are too strong to beat. The only threat for silver was the Spanish rivals," said China's Liu.

Liu and Huang, 0.1 point ahead of the Spaniards after their technical routine, were overtaken by the rivals in the free routine final, and had to settle with a bronze with a 0.03-point gap.

It is the first time for China to grab an Olympic medal in duet event of synchronized swimming.

Four years ago in Beijing, Chinese twins Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen were expected for duet medal, but they failed after making an error towards the end and only finished fourth.

The silver was more than happy for the Spanish duo because they had only teamed up for one and a half year since Ballestero Carbonell joined the team.

"The success of the duet was a strong boost to our team event," said Ana Tarres Campa, coach of the Spanish pair.

Japan, bronze winner of the duet event at the Beijing Olympics, was shut of of a medal with a fifth place.

Synchronized swimming, one of the few single-gender sports, made its Olympic debut in 1984. The sport includes duet and team competitions and both formats include a technical and free routine.

The event is a subjectively judged sport, and it takes time to win recognition. In the last 24 years as an Olympic sport worldwide it has been dominated by Russia, and in Asia, Japan has frequently been the No. 1. Enditem

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