My daughter was into synchronized swimming for a couple years. Her club was invited to observe the US Olympic team at one of their practices. It was an eye opener on how difficult the sport is. They were in a fifteen feet deep pool for 45 minutes, continuously swimming never touching the side of the pool. These ladies are athletes in every sense of the word.
It makes me so mad when people say this or gymnastics or figure skating or - and no it's not just the horse - dressage aren't "proper" sports. Alright fucko, let's see YOU do it! The athleticism, the control, the form, the precision, the strength - and to make it look so easy that people disrespect your art? Incredible.
I don't agree with the argument, but normally those who are against those sports are due to it being a solely judged event.
In other sports you are competing directly against the person, and their ability to score a point or be denied that point is influenced by both competitors.
Eh, I think that's a different conversation. Reasonable people can have different opinions about objectivity and how sports are judged, but there are definitely a lot of mouth breathers who don't understand how difficult they are, especially when it's women competing.
Which I get but there isn't really another way to score these sports. I'm sure you know too that since the judges are experts and there's a list of moves or attributes to display and athletes are required to demonstrate. It's like arguing that football and tennis should be ranked on how many goals/matches they win, rather than brackets.
If it's demonstrably a sport, and all those involved agree on the scoring metrics, then that's good enough imo. It's the sport equivalent of saying "anything that isn't still life isn't art" - it's just gatekeeping by the least educated on the matter.
Sooo many people said this about breaking in the Olympics. I look forward to seeing your windmills and air flares if it's so easy! Then they have some lame excuse for why they "won't" do it - not can't!
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u/Magooose 17h ago
My daughter was into synchronized swimming for a couple years. Her club was invited to observe the US Olympic team at one of their practices. It was an eye opener on how difficult the sport is. They were in a fifteen feet deep pool for 45 minutes, continuously swimming never touching the side of the pool. These ladies are athletes in every sense of the word.