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Synchronized swimming is a sport combining strength and flexibility, aerobic conditioning, musical interpretation, dramatic showmanship and close teamwork. Powerful swimming is combined with close choreography to create synchronized routines. Competitions involve figures, the building blocks of routines, as well as routines judged for both technical merit and artistic impression.
Four types of routines are swum in synchronized swimming: solo, duet, trio and team (up to eight swimmers). In addition, each competitor must participate in the compulsory figures competition. Individual Figures scores are combined with routine scores to determine winners. Routines are designed to appear effortless, but consist of strenuous swimming. They last from 3 to 5 minutes, often with swimmers holding their breath for lengths of time up to 30 seconds.
The combination of skills--artistry, music, and stunning athleticism--has made "synchro" popular for spectators. Swimmers demonstrate their grace and appeal to the audience as they move through complex patterns. They combine the power of a boxer, the flexibility of a gymnast, the artistic expression of a ballerina, and the aerobic conditioning of a distance runner with synchronization unseen in any other sport. The stunning, gold medal performance of the US team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games has intensified interest in this unique team sport.
Sports Illustrated: Most Underrated Sport-
Synchronized Swimming is an all too easy target. But the physical prowess required in this sport takes a distance swimmers endurance and a speed swimmers strenth. Throw in the control needed to suspend breathing for up to a minute and synchro is one of the toughest sports around. In order to perfect the lifts, twists and twirls required in a 5 minute routine, elite atheltes work togehter up to 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. This sport has substance - even grit - beneath the surface.
-Sports Illustrated Magizine
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