picture of the day

In synch

19 Comments

Japan's team perform in the synchronized swimming team technical final during the World Swimming Championships at the Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona on Monday.

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19 Comments
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what has the world come to when this is considered a sport? Utterly pointless waste of time and energy.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

Olympic politics! Pathetic that these sports are on the chopping block (Baseball/softball, Karate, Wrestling) but synch swimming stays. They look like a bunch of seals waiting for some food. OK, I recognize these ladies work hard and are proud of their accomplishments, but it's not a sport.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Being synchronized is something the Japanese should be really good at.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

The reason it stays in the Olympics is that it's easy to stage. All you need is a pool, speakers, silly costumes and bucketloads of cosmetics.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Wrestling is not a sport but this is?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

I'm sure they're fine athletes, but there's just something undeniably comical about synchronized swimming, and the clown makeup doesn't help.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Make up in a pool? I have a shaved head but have to put on a cap. They can wear Ronald McDonald make up and no cap because it's a sport? Time I started dancing in the pool.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

"Wrestling is not a sport but this is?"

What, trying to pin another person's shoulders to a mat is a sport, but lovely ladies moving graciously together in water is not?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

paulinusa Jul. 23, 2013 - 08:52AM JST

Being synchronized is something the Japanese should be really good at.

the first girl from right has her mouth open weirdly. its completely out of sync with the rest. its not clear whether she is trying to smile or trying to scream or desperately trying to take in some air. it looks very confusing.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

weeelll, consider that the olympics never used to be about 'sport' - they were tests of physical prowess.

Sync swimming is exactly the same as gymnastic routines - performing physical feats of strength and balance following strict rules, and within a predefined area - just out of the water.

The olympics is now a huge marketing/advertising opportunity and so anything that doesn't get the viewers watching, so that they can flash all the logos and show all the ad-breaks to, will eventually get axed. I guess sync swimming still reaches a certain demographic worth selling to...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Cricky I have more hair on my chest that my head, and yet I also get made to wear a swimming cap...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Do they have to get out the pool every hour for 5 minutes during competition?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It's bizarre, I used a pen and drew a line around my head, it looked like a cap and that was all that mattered!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Isn't it spelled S-Y-N-C?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

what's this about swimming caps? Do they make you wear them at the public pools here?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The only discipline worth watching!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@Fizzbit. Public and private pools alike usually make swimmers wear caps, regardless of the presence of hair. To top that, the local pool in a rural city where I once lived made all swimmers get out of the pool and do stretches to music every 30mins. No amount of Crusty the Clown make up would have put us in the same league as the synchro swimmers in the picture, however.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

@Baibaikin

Thanks, didn't know that.

the local pool in a rural city where I once lived made all swimmers get out of the pool and do stretches to music every 30mins

Perverted lifeguards with hidden cameras?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Wearing make up in the water, dancing in the water... how is this a sport?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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