Inside Synchro: synchronized swimming insights from an olympic gold medalist

11 December 2006

Andrea Nott and Christina Jones have been selected as the first two members of the 2008 Olympic Team for synchronized swimming. The rest of the team members will be determined in April of 2007.

It is typical to select the team this early, as it takes months to prepare a team in this sport. Routines must be choreographed and perfected well ahead of their debut in Bejing. Andrea and Christina can breath a sigh of relief now that their spots are secured on the team. These athletes have trained over a decade each for this opportunity to represent their country in the Olympic Games. Often it takes this long to develop into an elite athlete because the sport requires an incredible amount of talent - flexibility, creativity, maturity, coordination, muscle control, endurance, speed, agility, and the ability to hold your breath up to minutes at a time.

Keep an eye out for the US National Team to be announced after Team Trials end Tuesday, December 12th. The team will compete in the FINA World Championships to be held in Australia in March.

16 September 2006

The 2006 Fina World Cup has begun in Yokohama, Japan. This is the top international competition of the year for this sport. Approximately 30 nations will compete in solo, duet, team, and combo. So far, Russia has once again dominated, taking first in the combo, solo and duet events.

You can watch the duet and team competitions this weekend at 4pm EST on the World Championship Sports Network web broadcast today and tomorrow Nathalie Bartleson, my teammate from the 1996 Olympic Gold Medal team, will commentate both events.

Team USA will be looking to medal in team, which for most people is the premier event in synchronized swimming. Although two years stand between now and the next Olympic Games in Beijing, the World Cup already serves as a lead up to the Olympics, and teams are fighting to step onto the podium. This competition is similar to the Olympic Games competition, in that all of the top synchronized swimming teams from around the world are present.

A controversy with the North Korean team is making headlines around the world. The North Korean team backed out of the event after three members of their delegation were not given visas to enter Japan.

1 May 2006

The United States held its 2006 national synchronized swimming championships this past weekend. Santa Clara won the team and solo titles, with Stanford University taking first in the duet event. This is the 15th team championships won by Santa Clara (a club based out of Santa Clara, California). The elite season will begin soon, as athletes on the national teams begin training for a summer full of competitions.

26 March 2006

I recently found this public service announcement regarding obesity. A few obese people speak candidly about weight loss challenges, while the clip shows them doing synchronized swimming. I don't quite get the connection between obesity and synchro; maybe they are promoting swimming as a weight loss strategy, which is a good option.

24 March 2006

The United States Collegiate Championships is being held at Stanford University this week. The competition brings together the top college/university athletes in the country. A battle looms again between Stanford and Ohio State. Check out the results of the competition, which conclude this weekend.

6 March 2006

Singapore is currently hosting the Asian Swimming Championships. The synchronized swimming event began today. The Singapore National Team is highlighted in Grace Under Pressure, which also describes their training regimen.

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