SAINT FLESH | #6 SYNCHRONSCHWIMMEN

Complex movements underwater result in precise, fast, and elegantly executed figures above water. Synchronized swimmers not only combine artistic expression, athletic speed, and acrobatic skills, but also boast tremendous physical fitness. A freestyle routine only takes three or four minutes and is synchronized to the beat of the music: breathing, holding your breath, breathing, holding your breath, and of course it is synchronized to the partner, in parallel movements above and below the water. How do the swimmers do this? What does their training for dancing in the water actually involve? Where does synchronized swimming range on an international scale and how does the scoring system work? And how do artistic and cultural aspects entwine with sports elements in the process?

Over the past 20 years, a handful of films have touched on the subject of synchronized swimming: a Swedish documentary inspired by Williams‘ films entitled Men Who Swim, including its German and British adaptations; the 2008 coming-of-age film Water Lilies; and Scarlett Johansson as bathing beauty in the 2016 film Hail, Cesar! by the Coen brothers in 2016. And today? In 2024, Christian Louboutin caught Olympic fever and persuaded the French national synchronized swimming team to do a swim show while wearing his shoes as part of the Paris Fashion Week („Paris is Louboutining“).

Duygu Ağal and Ricarda Hillermann discuss the world of synchronized swimming in this month’s SAINT FLESH show with multi-award winning synchronized swimmer and former water jumper Frithjof Seidel.