Olia Burtaev

Born in South Brisbane on 18 June 1995, Burtaev first pursued rhythmic gymnastics and ballet. In an interview published in 2023, she said she began taking on as much as eight hours of swim training a day at age 10; a 2012 report similarly records that she put her ballerina ambitions on hold at 10 after being invited to try synchronised swimming. She described synchro as a demanding combination of swimming, dance, gymnastics and acrobatics performed while holding the breath.

Burtaev entered Australia’s high-performance pathway as a teenager. In 2012, The West Australian described her as a 16-year-old Year 12 student and the youngest member of the Gold Coast Mermaids squad that won the Australian club championship at the national championships in Perth. The report places her within a strong Gold Coast training group that included Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Sarah Bombell and Eloise Amberger, while cautioning that the Olympic team was almost exclusively drawn from those teammates.

Her Olympic opportunity came at London 2012, when she competed for Australia in the women’s team event. The Australian Olympic Committee’s London wrap-up named Burtaev among the nine Australian team members and described the squad as only the second Australian synchro team to qualify and the third to compete at an Olympic Games. The IOC athlete page records London 2012 as her only Games participation; there is no evidence in the opened authoritative records that she competed at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), and no reserve or alternate selection should be inferred from the sources reviewed.

Beyond the Olympics, the available sources document a demanding international-level training environment but do not provide a complete, authoritative competition ledger for world championships, World Series events or other senior international meets. The 2012 AOC report notes the team’s technical and free routines and the broader challenge of competing against major powers such as Russia, China, Spain and Canada, but it is not a full results database. Accordingly, no additional international placings are asserted here.

After her competitive swimming career, Burtaev completed a Bachelor of Sports Science and developed work in health and fitness. In a 2020 James Street interview, she said she had started her own fitness business, The Modern Body, and described a training approach built around flexibility, strength and conditioning, informed by sports-science study and her aquatic and ballet background. The same interview identifies her as a personal trainer and discusses her work with clients and at The Calile’s Gymnasium at that time.

Her later published interviews show an ongoing interest in movement and performance rather than establishing an assumed current sporting status. In 2023, Aje reported that she was continuing her training business and wanted to return to more artistic training, including ballet, dance and synchro sessions. She also described ballet, barre and cardio-style Pilates as favourite ways to exercise. A 2020 interview records her enjoyment of outdoor pools, music during training, sauna sessions and television, and mentions travel interests in Russia, Europe and Greece; these are period interview details, not claims about her present activities.

Career highlights

• Represented Australia at the London 2012 Olympic Games in artistic swimming.
• Member of Australia's London 2012 Olympic team named by the Australian Olympic Committee.
• Youngest member of the Gold Coast Mermaids squad reported as Australian club champions at the 2012 national championships.
• Began synchronised swimming at age 10 after early rhythmic-gymnastics and ballet training.
• Joined Australia's high-performance sporting pathway as a teenager, according to her published professional biography/interviews.
• Completed a Bachelor of Sports Science.
• Founded The Modern Body fitness business and worked as a personal trainer, as documented in 2020.
• Maintained an interest in ballet, dance, synchro and hybrid movement training in a 2023 interview.

Selected competition results

Beyond the pool

Burtaev's documented post-sport work includes a Bachelor of Sports Science, personal training and founding The Modern Body, a fitness business built around flexibility, strength, conditioning and movement. Published interviews also mention ballet, barre, Pilates, outdoor swimming, music, sauna and travel interests, but these are time-specific self-descriptions rather than evidence of current status.