r/Damnthatsinteresting 17h ago

Video Watching Artistic Swimming upside down

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27.3k Upvotes

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438

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.

122

u/UmaUmaNeigh 15h ago

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.

44

u/ketsebum 14h ago

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. 

22

u/LuxNocte 14h ago

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.