Page 21 - Issue-47

ELITE
Vol.1, Issue 47, September 2022 ELITE

The Reality of Artistic Swimming

A combination of the strength and power of Zeina Marei, fourth year - economics
weightlifters, the lung capacity of endurance and zina.tareq2019@feps.edu.eg
long-distance swimming athletes, the flexibility While there are a range of regulations and
of ballerinas and gymnasts, the jumping heights technicalities required for specific routines,
of trampolinists, and most importantly the ear of the common rules of artistic swimming
a musician. Beyond demanding, yet graceful: I
present to you artistic swimming. include not touching the bottom of the pool,
Artistic swimming, formerly known as no goggles during the competition swims,
synchronised swimming, is a sport requiring sticking to the prescribed routine timing,
endurance, strength, flexibility, and a sense of and no inappropriate costumes or jewellery.
rhythm and art, proving to be one of the most And because swimmers are also critiqued
physically draining Olympic sports. on presentation and impression, maintaining
A performance, or rather called a routine in eye contact with the judges plays a huge
artistic swimmers, is a series of complex, role in reflecting their professionalism and
dynamic, creative, and acrobatic movements confidence, thus they can’t surface from the
accompanied by music, performed by a number water squinting and rubbing their eyes.
of swimmers in a synchronised manner, or more To prep for competitions, athletes train a
often than not in a solo routine. Swimmers can minimum of 4 hour per training session
perform, as mentioned, alone, as duets, or in
most cases, in teams of 4-8 swimmers, and are from a very young age in off seasons, and
expected to follow the same choreography up to 10 hours in competition seasons.
throughout their swim throughs. One very Training sessions include strength training,
consistent goal, however, about the game is that endurance training, acrobatics and
swimmers always aim to be as synchronised and gymnastics training, flexibility, and
as high as possible, whether that be upside down needless to be mentioned, swimming and
with their legs up, or with their heads normally pool training, all divided throughout the
above water, or whilst lifting one another in week and thoroughly programmed to ensure
acrobatic elements. athletes are hitting the expected targets and
The criteria to join is rather simple, only peaking by competition.
requiring athletes to have a background in So, the sport is indeed basically just
swimming, and not even at a professional level. dancing in the water, yet there is so much
A plus is joining from a very young age, as more to it than what meets the naked eye!
Back young as 6 years old, because given the
Back
complications of the sport, athletes joining later
To FEPS than that tend to fall behind and struggle with 19
To FEPS
To FEPS
catching up.