Real Life Mermaids: Women’s Olympic Artistic Swimming
The history, routines and notable figures of the Olympic sport
The nineteenth century proves that synchronized swimming was a male-only event; however, in the twentieth century, it was named a women’s sport. Men were allowed to compete alongside women in the US until 1941, as synchronized swimming was included in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). The participation of men reduced as the AAU required men and women to compete separately. As we consider the notions of gender norms in the world of sports, let us not forget that men were clearly given a chance to participate in this sport. However, it later declined involuntary male participants when mixed duets were not considered in competitive levels. You might consider it ironic that men would rather compete alongside women than against them. It is fair to think so, especially when normalized notions of femininity are involved in an often-masculinized world of sports.
Did you know that by the twentieth century, synchronized swimming was known as “water ballet?” Its first recorded competition took place in Berlin, Germany, in 1891, and the sport simultaneously developed in Canada around that period. Australian Annette Kellerman popularised the sport in 1907 when she performed in a glass tank as an underwater ballerina in the New York Hippodrome. Having experimented with various diving stunts and actions, Katherine Curtis started one of the first water ballet clubs hosted at the University of Chicago. She later advocated for the sport to be officialized in 1941, but she had relocated overseas in 1943. Some pioneers of the sport include Peg Seller, who was the first champion in the first-ever North American competition in Montreal in 1924. Other pioneers who followed her lead include Beulah Gundling, Käthe Jacobi, Marion Kane Elston, Dawn Bean, Billie MacKellar, and Teresa Anderson.
Artistic swimming is a hybrid sport consisting of swimming, dance, and gymnastics elements, and swimmers are usually performing a synchronized routine to music. These routines can be done as solos, duets, free teams, free combinations, and highlights. The fascinating aspect of a sport like artistic swimming is that one might not consider it a traditional sport to begin with, simply because of the level of artistic skill involved. We can see gender bias at play here, as many “feminine” sports are not considered skilful enough to be regarded as a competitive sport, what more at the Olympic level.
Many people do not recognize the high level of skill and stamina an athlete has to possess to even train as an artistic swimmer. This form of swimming requires advanced water skills. Also, it demands endurance, strength, grace, flexibility, artistry, and timing precision — and we’re not even talking about the exceptional breath control one must have to stay upside down underwater. In competitions, athletes show off their aerobic endurance, flexibility, and strength to perform complex routines at the Olympic calibre. Each artistic swimmer performs one free and one technical routine for the competition judges other than group routines and figures (a combination of skills and positions that require a great deal of strength, flexibility, and control). Figures compete on an individual level, and athletes are ranked individually, whereas routines compete at the team level, and athletes ranked by teamwork and synchronization. The routines are also choreographed to music and have themes associated with them.
Some basic skills that require mastery to succeed in artistic swimming include sculls and a kick known as the eggbeater. Sculls refer to an essential skill of hand movements used to propel the body. Commonly used sculls are the stationary scull, the support scull, the propeller scull, the alligator scull, and the split scull, to name a few. The support scull, also known as the “American Scull,” is credited to Marion Kane Elston, who invented it and, as a result, propelled the sport to newer heights. This began the development of artistic swimming from “water ballet” to the level of athleticism we see today in synchronized swimming events at the Olympics.
The eggbeater kick is well known in this sport as it allows athletes to skilfully tread water to leave their hands free to make independent movements above water. Another variation of the eggbeater is a body boost, allowing athletes to raise themselves above water at the hip level. Essentially, if synchronized swimming looks easy, the athletes are doing their jobs well. An interesting fact about artistic swimming is the common injuries athletes experience, including injuries that primarily affect tendons (as the sport causes muscle imbalances), rotator cuff, and knees.
Artistic swimming is governed by the International Swimming Federation (FINA), as well as swimming, diving, high diving, water polo, and open water swimming. FINA officially renamed the sport from “synchronized swimming” to “artistic swimming” in 2017 but received mixed responses in return. Artistic swimming has been a Summer Olympic event since the 1984 Games. Since the twentieth century, artistic swimming only features female athletes in both the duet and team events. It is only in the international, national and regional events that you see men compete in artistic swimming. FINA also introduced a mixed duet event at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships.
The very first Olympic demonstration of synchronized swimming was presented at the 1952 Games, where the Helsinki officials welcomed Kay Curtis and lit a torch in her honour. However, Curtis died in 1980, and the sport only became an official Olympic event in 1984. In 1968, FINA officially recognized synchronized swimming as the fourth water sport next to swimming, platform diving, and water polo. Between 1984 and 1992, solo and duet competitions were included in the Summer Olympic Games, but they did not last and were dropped in 1996 as the team competition was more valued. However, in the 2000 Olympic Games, the duet event was reinstated and has since been featured alongside the team competition. 2017 was an important year in the Olympic development of artistic swimming as all solo, duet, and team events were split between free and technical routines, allowing more athletes to compete in multiple events in hopes of winning a medal.
In the Olympic Games, the United States, Canada, and Japan are traditionally the strongest countries in artistic swimming. These nations were found on the Olympic podium from 1984 to 1996. Russia recently surged and dominated the scene with medals in every event between 2000 to 2016 with names like Anastasia Davydova, Anastasia Ermakova, Natalia Ishchenko, and Svetlana Romashina. China, Spain, and France follow closely behind the above top teams.
It is important to note that the host country of 2020 Olympics, Japan, will have reserved a spot in all events since they are considered the Asian continental representative. Comprising of 104 athletes from respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the competition at this Olympic Games allows each NOC to enter a maximum number of eight qualified athletes in the women’s team and two qualified athletes for the women’s duet.
When it comes to team competitions, the best ranked NOC in each of the five continental championships obtains a secure place in the Games. Keep in mind this excludes Japan, which will be representing the Asian continent by default as the host country. The remaining NOCs who do not make the top five rankings compete for: (a) the two highest-ranked spots at the 2019 World Aquatic Championships and (b) three highest-ranked spots at the Olympic Qualification Tournament. As for the duet synchronized swimming event, all ten qualified NOCs for the team event are automatically considered for the duet event, where two synchronized swimmers who members of the team are automatically qualified.
Artistic Swimming, more than any other sport, is associated with women. Unlike more typically “masculine” sports like rugby or boxing, artistic swimming has allowed women to truly shine and dominate, without the influence of men, in the sport. As the summer Olympics are right around the corner we can surely expect a big splash in the realm of artistic swimming and the artistry that comes with such a beautiful sport.
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