Did you know one of the world's most powerful women, European Central Bank Chief Christine Lagarde was an Artistic Swimmer?

Born into a family of academics, as a teenager, Christine was a member of the French national synchronised swimming team.
In May 1968, when Christine Lagarde was a teenager, French schools were shut down during a student uprising. As her fellow pupils took to the streets to throw cobblestones at the police, Lagarde took up synchronised swimming and went on to win a bronze medal in the national championships. "It was synchronised swimming that taught me: 'Grit your teeth and smile'," she has said. And it's been helpful in her subsequent career in politics: "In exactly the same way, it's a sport of resistance and endurance. You're in tension and control."

If her teeth are gritted, it's impossible to tell. What lovely teeth she has – straight and white, they gleam out of a permanently, almost alarmingly, tanned face. Tall – she's 5ft 10in – and slim, the 55-year-old Lagarde dresses with the casual élan of a Parisian, patriotically attired in Chanel suits and Hermès scarves, along with jazzy bracelets and fur-lined ponchos. Lagarde softens her rather severe black-and-white outfits with silk scarves, a string of pearls or a brooch. She has widely spaced green eyes framed by a silver bob. She still swims, but not in formation.

Christine is the President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2011 to 2019. Lagarde had also served in the Government of France, most prominently as minister of the economy, finance and industry from 2007 to 2011. She was the first woman to hold each of those posts.