The artistic swimmers themselves refused to see it that way and were keen to dismiss pre-Games ‘hype’, by maintaining the mindset that they could “never take anything for granted.”

“We really weren't expecting it, like, even more than a goal, it was a dream, but we had never thought that we could actually do it,” she tells World Aquatics with a smile.

“It sounds kind of stupid to say out loud, because obviously we could have done it, but when you're in the moment, you just can't even fathom that it could be a possibility.

“It was probably a good thing, not thinking about it, because it would have added even more pressure, so we just kept pushing and putting our heart into every training session.”

At the at the halfway stage, following the Tech discipline in Paris, the pair began to realise their true potential and admit they were “fuming” after discovering their ranking of fourth, ahead of the Free event finale.

“We have almost ‘twin intuition’ and know what each other are thinking and we knew we’d just have to swim our hearts out to try and scramble for a medal, but we didn’t expect it.”

24 hours later though they returned to the newly constructed Paris Aquatics Centre and delivered the performance of their lives to soar into second behind China and ahead of the Netherlands.

“I think what made the whole moment so much more special, was that we really didn't expect it,” recalls Shortman. “Then when it happened it was just a surreal moment, like it was a once in a lifetime experience that we just could have never imagined it to go that way.”

‘Surreal’ Response To Historic Success

Given their landmark achievement, together with a greater push to promote the achievements of female athletes in the UK, Shortman and Thorpe found their schedules somewhat busier than usual once they returned to their homeland following Paris 2024.

“It was just surreal, because honestly for two to three weeks after the Olympic Games we genuinely had interviews every single day and everyone wanted to talk to us about the experience,” she said. “It was incredible as we'd never had that before in the sport.

“You know, it (artistic swimming) is a small sport and people don’t really talk about it in between the Olympic Games in the media, so just to have that coverage was amazing.

“To be honest, it was probably good that we didn’t know just how many people had been watching us (on TV) while we were out there (due to the added pressure), but the support was incredible and it’s really motivated us for the future.”

Making Paris Her Temporary Home

Shortman did not have too long to celebrate her landmark success with Thorpe back in their homeland before returning to the French capital, which was the location for a year of her university degree course.

“I study International Management with French, so I had to do a year in industry, which meant I had to move abroad for a year in a French speaking country, so obviously I chose Paris,” Shortman tells World Aquatics.

“I had maybe two weeks back at home before coming straight back out for my placement and lived there for eight months in total.

“It was a real whirlwind and went really quick, but it was a great experience and I’ve honestly had one of the most fun years of my whole life after so many years doing my sport.”

She admits the positive result at Paris 2024 certainly helped her settle in to the city as a resident post Games.

“Although I was based in Versailles, which is just south of Paris, I would travel in to the city a lot and every time I saw the Eiffel Tower I was reminded of the opening ceremony.

“Then every time I saw a different landmarks, which were venues dotted around Paris there were more lovely memories.”

‘Paris Felt Like The Start Of The Journey, Rather Than The End’

After spending the majority of her life not only training for a “dream” Olympic medal, but also fundraising for her programme which has been largely unsupported by the British funding agency UK Sport, Shortman would have been forgiven for considering retirement.

However, the Olympic, World and European medallist insists she and Thorpe feel they have more to achieve in the water.

“We didn't get funding until 2024, the season of the Olympics, so it was just an incredible story, an incredible journey and we never could have planned that it would have gone as well as it did,” she states.

“After the Olympics, after everything that happened, I really needed a big break to just kind of focus on me and really regain my energy, as well as my love and passion for the sport.

“Now we’re back, there’s the excitement again and we want to see where this can go, because this feels like the beginning, rather than we've reached our peak because we’ve achieved our dream and I’m excited to see where it goes.”

Thorpe made her return in 2025, competing with Britain’s leading male artistic swimmer, Ranjuo Tomblin, in Mixed Duet events and the pair made a spectacular start to their career together with landmark World and European honours.

They hope to continue that partnership, while Shortman may yet return to some solo contests, having won her nation’s first-ever World Championships medal in the sport with Solo Free bronze at Fukuoka 2023.

The pair’s major focus will, naturally, remain on their Women’s Duet discipline though, through which they hope to maintain the momentum generated by their Olympic success to ensure there is a lasting legacy for artistic swimming throughout the United Kingdom.

“It’s a super-exciting time and I think artistic swimming is a really up and coming event,” says Shortman.

“The Olympics really showed that people are getting more interested, especially with the social media traction and spreading the news of the sport which is seeing new people joining and expanding all the time.

“We’ve now got a really exciting Duet squad with six to eight of us all training and pushing one another on, while we’re also looking at having men in the team, so it’s great to see that evolution as well.

Competitive Comeback Scheduled For 2026

Building towards the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 will be their main focus over the coming years, but they are excited to take on at least three legs of the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in 2026 – in Canada, France and Spain – as well as forthcoming European and World Championships across 2026 and 2027.

In between – and in addition to training – Shortman and Thorpe aim to keep inspiring through school visits and appearances which allow people to connect with their Olympic medals.

“It still just fills me with so much pride when I see younger people and athletes and their faces light up because they see the medal,” Shortman says with a beaming smile.

“It melts my heart and I just love sharing the story as well, because although the moment is there and then it’s gone, the medal makes it tangible for them.

“We've definitely got that momentum behind us now and while we can’t recreate that exact moment (from Paris 2024), we’re going to use everything as a stepping stone to LA28 and we can’t wait to see how we and the sport develop in the next few years.”