The deepening marriage of athleticism and artistry is changing synchronized swimming, an obscure Olympic sport that was memorably satirized in a 1984 “Saturday Night Live” sketch. “Le Rêve” and USA Synchro, the sport’s national governing body, have a sponsorship agreement “to combine resources,” said Sandra Mahoney, the national team director. The show, which opened in 2005, will support USA Synchro financially, as well as assist with choreography and acrobatic training for the athletes.
“They, in turn, will be able to build our talent for the Olympics so that they have talent down the line,” Mahoney said….
“It’s a contact sport now,” she added. “So they can’t ridicule us anymore.”
No matter what anyone says, I will continue to ridicule the “sport” of synchronized swimming. It is ridiculous.
And of course I recognize that it requires an absolute ton of talent, athleticism and grace — like way more than I could ever hope to have. Clearly it’s a difficult thing to endeavor, trying to synch up so many intricate motions so precisely with your teammates and the music, all while working to stay afloat.
But to me, anything that is judged on wholly subjective criteria should not count as a sport. I want a clear winner, whether it’s the person who wins the race or the team that outscores its opponent. And I realize that there are plenty of reasonably subjective decisions made by referees in football and everything, but whatever. Shut up. Stop picking nits.
Back in the WCSN.com days, we covered a ton of silly sports, but none quite as silly as synchronized swimming (though Tom Boorstein argues it’s rhythmic gymnastics). There would be times when my only duty was to monitor the video stream to make sure it was operating properly, which meant I’d be sitting in a reasonably bustling office setting getting paid to sit there and watch synchronized swimming. And I giggled throughout.
It’s just a silly thing to watch. I can’t really explain it except to say that it vaguely resembles something you might see at Sea World, only with humans instead of porpoises. Also, I’ve never been to Sea World.
I defy you to watch this and not chuckle:
Tedquarters 
There’s probably worse things you could be forced to watch for a living, Some of those synchronized swimming chicks are probably pretty decent looking without the ridiculous makeup and one piece swim suits.
Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s a sport.
I’ve never been a big fan of those Olympic sports that use subjective judging. When the Summer Olympics are on it’s aggravating to watch and get thrown off by the judges scoring.
Its all about how you define what a sport is. Dictionary says, “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature”. That doesnt mean that judged events are not sports.
At the end of the day its one person performing thier ‘sport’ better than the others. Just because one uses judging to determine who is better, doesnt mean its not a sport.
I mean yea some of these judged sports are dumb as sh*t, but so are some games with a clear cut winner as well. Badminton? Hand Ball? These sports have clear cut winners and losers.
And what about sports that can go either way? Like snowboarding or certain types bike riding? When they race its a sport but when they are judged on tricks and freestyle manuvers its not? Its all really about having a certain set of skills is it not?
If you dont like to watch judged sports I think thats fine, I think alot of them are quite dumb, but to uses wether something its judged or not as the criteria for what is a sport and what is not, doesnt make much sense, because like I said, it can go both ways. There are some really awesome judged sports and some dumb ones, as well as some really dumb sports with clear winners.
I didn’t mean to disrespect the effort and hard work that goes into it. I mean, I agree with you, the term “sport” has a wide scope. I include competitive video games and even hunting as part of “sport”.
I was just explaining I wasn’t a big fan of the subjective scoring of certain sports. I’ll include Boxing and MMA in that category. I don’t like when they go to decision, sometimes there are some outrageous results.
I’m with you, I dont like the way that some sports are judged, but I dont think less of the sport just because its in itself based on judging. I just think the judging needs to be improved in many cases.
And I wasnt offended by what you said, I was jut kind of telling how I think about sports. I just dont think its right to say something isnt a sport because its judged.
I’ve tried to use basically the same logic to explain to pro wrestling fans why pro wrestling is not a sport, but they don’t want to hear it.