{"id":21009,"date":"2024-08-09T18:11:55","date_gmt":"2024-08-10T01:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?p=21009"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:43:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:43:48","slug":"artistic-swimming-judge-and-alumna-cheryl-russell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/artistic-swimming-judge-and-alumna-cheryl-russell\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic judge\u2019s journey to the Paris Games includes a stop at USC Dornsife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-artistic-swim_top-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-artistic-swim_top-1280x720.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-artistic-swim_top-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"The Ukrainian artistic swimming team competes at the Tokyo Olympics Aquatic Center.\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  The Ukrainian artistic swimming team competes at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Launched as a duet event, the sport has added team competition since it premiered at USC\u2019s swimming pool during the 1984 Olympics. (Photo: Property of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine\/Wikimedia Commons.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=alumni\">Alumni<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Olympic judge\u2019s journey to the Paris Games includes a stop at USC Dornsife<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Alumna and artistic swimming judge Cheryl Russell draws from a lifetime of experience in the sport, including volunteer time at the 1984 Los Angeles Games while at USC.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Darrin S. Joy<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">August 9, 2024<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 1.68841575 4.0350274 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>For Cheryl Russell, the initial appeal came from the sport\u2019s creative aspects. Since then, she\u2019s come to appreciate how artistic swimming has grown and changed over the years, a fitting perspective from a former <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/hist\/\">history<\/a> major.<\/p>\n<p>Russell, who earned her bachelor\u2019s degree from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 1985, is one of five Olympic judges \u2014 more precisely, international technical officials \u2014 responsible for assessing each artistic swim team\u2019s execution of elements in their routine. (Another panel rates their artistic impression.)<\/p>\n<h2>Artistic swimming judge\u2019s full-circle Olympic moment<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_21013\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21013\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-21013 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story-500x281.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Russell and and two Spirit of Troy band mates pose in uniforms\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story-1280x720.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/08\/Cheryl-Russell-Band_in-story.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21013\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cheryl Russell, center, poses in Spirit of Troy marching band regalia with band mates. (Photo: Courtesy of Cheryl Russell.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This isn\u2019t Russell\u2019s first time attending the Olympic Games. As a member of the USC Spirit of Troy marching band, she participated in the Olympic All-American Marching Band at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. \u201cThere were a lot of USC members that were selected to be in that marching band, along with at least two members from every state in the country,\u201d recalls Russell, who played tuba.<\/p>\n<p>Comprising about 600 members in all, the band played at both the opening and closing ceremonies. \u201cIt was just fun to be surrounded by all those great athletes, all those great musicians,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Russell also volunteered as a helper for the synchronized swimming events, which held its Olympic premiere in USC\u2019s pool that year. It would become the first point of what she terms a \u201cfull-circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI volunteered at synchronized swimming and saw those athletes and saw the judges,\u201d she says, \u201cand now I&#8217;m judging artistic swimming in Paris 40 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>From \u201cstunt\u201d swimmer to international artistic swimming judge<\/h2>\n<p>Her path to Paris began when she was a child. \u201cWhen I was a little girl, I went to summer camp and I learned some, I guess they\u2019re called \u2018stunts,\u2019 and I came home very excited to tell my mom that I learned how to do a \u2018turtle float,\u2019\u201d she recounts.<\/p>\n<p>Her mother, a high school swim coach in Buffalo, New York, took Russell and her sister to join the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gomotionapp.com\/team\/nyskss\/page\/home\">Swimkins Synchronized Swimming Association<\/a>, now the oldest continuous registered team in USA Artistic Swimming membership history.<\/p>\n<p>Her family later moved to Southern California, where Russell began competing in artistic swimming, then dubbed \u201csynchronized swimming,\u201d when she was 11. She moved up to coaching at 16 and continued with several teams until she became a school teacher in Riverside, Calif., years later. (She retired from teaching in May 2023.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was coaching in Riverside, and the head coach said, \u2018We really need a judge. Why don\u2019t you learn how to be a judge?\u2019\u201d says Russell.<\/p>\n<p>After passing the required tests, she moved up the ranks as a local, regional, west zone and finally national judge. In 2006, she was invited, along with a colleague, to test to become an international judge.<\/p>\n<p>Russell first declined but was persuaded to take the test as an \u201ceducational opportunity,\u201d she says, smiling at what she soon found out was a ruse. \u201cSo we went out in the hallway and we took this test, and the next day they announced both of us as the newest international judges. \u2026 I\u2019ve been internationally judging ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FB0mufh18cI?si=yH3EXSXbFZUyfmJH\" title=\"USC Alumna\u2019s Olympic Story from 1984 Volunteer to 2024 Judge\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>Trojan honored to be named an Olympic artistic swimming judge<\/h2>\n<p>Now the sole artistic swimming judge from the United States and judging at the Olympic games for the first time, Russell says she\u2019s most impressed by how much the sport and the competitors have progressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, back in the day you would see Esther Williams movies, and they would be doing, you know, back strokes and making all these formations,\u201d she says, referring to popular films of the 1940s and \u201950s starring Williams, once a competitive swimmer. \u201cNow it\u2019s a really athletic sport that combines a lot of gymnastics into what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked what she loves most about judging, though, she smiles. \u201cWhat I like is there\u2019s no coaching pressure \u2014 that\u2019s good. And you get a front row seat to all the beautiful routines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps most of all, Russell is grateful for the opportunity. \u201cI mean, I\u2019m only one of 10 judges in the entire world selected to do this event, so it\u2019s a huge honor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1GOAETxG0ZY?si=U_4V2XLf0h-3nTfn\">Follow along as Russell explains the difficulty of artistic swimming routines &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Related Articles\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/modern-versus-ancient-olympics\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >5 ways the ancient Olympics differ from the modern games<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/2016-olympics-the-science-of-track-and-field\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >2016 Olympics: The Science of Track and Field<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/5-exceptional-usc-dornsife-olympic-athletes\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Meet 5 exceptional USC Dornsife Olympic athletes<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alumna Cheryl Russell judges artistic swimming at this year\u2019s Olympics, drawing from a lifetime of experience in the sport, including volunteering at the 1984 Games at USC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":21010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,9],"tags":[71,330],"class_list":["post-21009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-dornsife-global","tag-history","tag-olympics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Olympic judge\u2019s journey to the Paris Games includes a stop at USC Dornsife<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"USC Dornsife alumna Cheryl Russell draws from a lifetime of experience in the sport, including volunteering during the 1984 L.A. 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