Can you imagine running for up to five minutes while performing acrobatics, holding your breath, looking graceful and having to keep in time to the music or your fellow athletes? No? Well welcome to the world of artistic swimming!
It is an incredibly strenuous and skilful sport. In fact, a test on all the Olympic sports before the London 2012 Olympic Games found artistic swimmers ranked second to long distance runners in aerobic capacity! Artistic swimmers need strength to perform twists and lifts and can hold their breath underwater for around a minute. They also need rhythm and flair to synchronise and interpret the music, which they listen to through underwater speakers. More ...
While there are a range of rules and penalties for specific routines, the basic rules of artistic swimming are displayed below.
In most senior competitions, swimmers perform two routines for the judges, one technical and one free.
The technical routine involves performing predetermined elements that must be executed in a specific order. The free routine has no requirements so the swimmers can be ‘free’ in how creative they get with the movements and their choreography.
The routines are performed in front of sets of judges, who use strict guidelines to score the performances.
As well as technical and free routines, there are competitions called ‘figures’ for junior swimmers where they perform set movements to the judges. There is no music and this is simply a case of how well the individual performs various synchro moves.
In Kent there are currently five clubs offering artistic swimming, well-spread around the county. The links below will take you to their websites:
Click on the relevant link for information on artistic swimming officials training and courses leading synchronised swimming coaching qualifications.