London Preview: Synchronised Swimming & Its Place in the Olympics

Russia in 2011 synchronized swimming team event

What/Where/When:

Synchronized Swimming, Aquatics Center, August 5-10

Are we going to be held back by that unfounded and antiquated prejudice which alleges that certain professions are incompatible with sport? – Pierre de Coubertin, 1933

Synchronized Swimming – A Rightful Place in the Olympics

With both Winter and Summer Olympics, there are a few sports with which I struggle. Synchronized swimming is one of them. I’ve tried to keep an open mind and hoped that eventually my mind will be swayed, but it hasn’t yet happened–perhaps until now.

When I first began researching synchronized swimming, I was wrestling with my dismissal of the sport. Why could I accept figure skating (another sport using music, costumes, and theatrics), but not synchronized swimming? It just didn’t make sense.

But now that’s about to change. This morning I recalled something I’d read recently about Pierre de Coubertin. Sure enough, after doing some research, I found what I was looking for. Yet again, I was able to turn to Coubertin for guidance. Oh, Monsieur Coubertin! Vous etes toujours pertinent!

As someone enamored with the Ancient Olympic Games, Coubertin recognized the beauty in sport, the beauty of an athlete’s body. He also recognized that sport was not just limited to brawn, but brains and artistry. His appreciation and emphasis on art translated into Olympic venue architecture, the parades and celebrations during the Olympics, and the encouragement of incorporating art into competition. (In fact, this emphasis is still seen today not just in sport, but logo design, venue design, and the carefully orchestrated opening ceremony.) Coubertin hoped that the Olympic movement would “tempt young athletes to combine artistic taste with physical hardihood.” “Sport should be envisaged as a producer of art and as an occasion of art,” said Coubertin in 1922.

I remember watching old movies with my parents, some of which featured stars doing water ballet, like Esther Williams. It was like watching the Rockettes in water. Their formations and synchronization were dazzling, entertaining. In these old movies it wasn’t the swimmers’ strength we marveled at, but rather the sheer artistry. However, to create such beauty and artistry, back then and still today, required much physical strength and darn good swimming skills.

The Sport’s History and 2012 Predictions

While water ballet, now called synchronized swimming, has been around since the 1930?s, the sport/art has only been in the Olympics since 1984. Much like figure skating, the sport has had a judging controversy or two, such as that withSylvie Frechette in 1992. As also in many judged sporting events, there are particular rules and required elements. In fact, my hat is off to synchronized swimming for maintaining a 0-1o point scale for judging. Where gymnastics and figure skating have ditched this type of system, synchronized swimming has retained it, making it much more spectator-friendly. There are currently only two events in the Olympics: team (8 swimmers) and duet (2 swimmers). As with figure skating, swimmers in both the team and duet events must perform both a technical and free swim. The technical swim has certain required elements which must be performed in a series. The free swim allows more freedom and creativity with choreography. Swimmers receive both a technical mark and an artistic mark which are given by 10 judges–5 of whom judge for technical merit and 5 who judge artistic merit.

Only Russia, United States, and Canada have ever won gold. Both Russia and the United States have dominated in the gold medal category. This Olympics, however, will be a bit different. Team USA failed to even qualify for the team event, and its duet pair has been together less than a year. The heavy favorites? Russia, of course, particularly Natalya Ischenko and Svetlana Romashina. China and Spain are strong contenders for silver and bronze. I wouldn’t count out Japan though. With its twelve total medals since 1984, watch out for them!

Faster, Higher, Stronger