What is really Synchronized Swimming ? Dive into an unknown discipline🏅

If you were ever wondering to which discipline goes the award of the most mocked sport of all times, here is you answer: the award definitely goes to synchronized swimming.
Let’s be honest, who never made fun of a picture of a bunch of skinny girls in swimsuits wearing a nose clip, red lipstick, sparkly eyeshadow and making very odd faces ?
Come on, just admit these kind of pictures make you laugh, I won’t judge you…

If you randomly ask people about a description of synchronized swimming, their answer will probably be something like « oh it’s that thing we sometimes see during the Olympics, with those girls dancing in the water, isn’t it ? ». Well guys, I’d love to watch you « dance in the water ».

Ok, so that’s the part of the article where you begin to understand that I am a synchronized swimmer myself since its lame reputation affects me so much.
I started synchronized swimming 5 years ago and I have been loving it more and more since then.
So for those of you who would like to finally understand this discipline, this article is for you.

First of all, synchronized swimming is a sort of hybrid between swimming, dance and gymnastics. It is mainly a team sport, but you can very often find routines executed by soloists or duets. A synchronized swimming team is composed of eight to twelve members, depending on the type of competition, the type of routine etc. During a routine, swimmers have to be synchronized to the music but also to each other, which can be very difficult sometimes.
Also, the first rule is you are NEVER allowed to touch the bottom of the pool. Now you’re probably wondering «if they don’t touch the bottom, how the hell is this thing possible ? »

The lifts are one of the most impressive parts of a synchronized swimming routine, one girl is properly lifted in the air, doing any kind of acrobatics while her teammates are under the water, pushing her as hard as they can without touching the ground.
The position that helps you stay out of the water without touching the bottom is the so-called « eggbeater kick ». It allows swimmers to stay stable and high above the water, while they can freely perform with their arms and hands. This is also used in water-polo all the time…

Now you have some basic informations on synchronized swimming, there’s a lot more to know about it but it unfortunately couldn’t fit in one simple article. But if you’re curious and wanna know more, I really recommend you to watch a movie (or documentary) I recently watched. It’s called «Parfaites » and was produced last year by Jérémie Battaglia. The documentary takes you into a very touching journey with the Canadian synchronized swimming’s national team. You will learn more about this discipline and the lifestyle of those athletes.

If someone already watched the movie tell me what you thought about it in the comments, I would be pleased to read that… ;)

( A French version of this article is coming ASAP)