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03/22/11
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August 08, 2012
On the seventh floor of Miami's Raleigh Hotel - a design gem in the South Beach Art Deco District - there's an oceanfront Esther Williams Suite in honor of the famous MGM water ballerina. There's also that distinctive scallop-edged pool; the very same pool that served as the setting for Williams' glitzy aquatic film shoots.
So what, you ask, does any of this have to do with sports?
It was Esther Williams who popularized the Olympic sport of synchronized swimming in the 1940's through elaborately orchestrated pool scenes in Hollywood films such as Bathing Beauty (1944), Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), and Jupiter's Darling (1955). This hybrid sport of swimming, dance and gymnastics requires precision, teamwork and endurance as well as tremendous physical strength and exceptional underwater breath control. And yet, it's taken eons, it seems, for the sport to earn its due respect.
In the 1980's, comedians Martin Short and Henry Shearer spoofed synchro (the sport's nickname amongst athletes) with a hilarious spot on Saturday Night Live featuring the two men lumbering about - their arms flailing clumsily in the air - in a community pool. In 1952, there was a minor exhibition of synchronized swimming at the Helsinki Games but it didn't become an official Olympic Sport until the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Even then, only solo and duet competitions were contested and the solo was merely added to fill television time after the Soviet boycott. Since 2000, both duet and team competitions have been officially featured at the Olympic Games.
But the crusade doesn't end here. The latest debate in the synchronized swimming world is whether or not men should be allowed to compete (at present, synchro is one of only two Olympic sports - alongside rhythmic gymnastics - for women only.) Britain's only male synchronized swimming team, Out to Swim Angels, have written a letter to the International Olympic Committee and the International Swimming Federation arguing that men deserve to compete in synchronized swimming, too. They're asking that the rules be changed in time for the Summer Games in Rio in 2016.
Truth be told, the sport does seem a bit girly to me. Then again, aren't the Olympics all about equality?
Tell me, what do you think?
still thinking about today...
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Aw, c'mon. Don't keep the boys splashin' about.
Let 'em in the swim of things.
Nothing on Beach Volleyball?
One Sunday afternoon,on my way back from the weekly shopping tour, I stopped in my favorite little river side tap,and while having a Bloody Mary at the bar noticed a strange occurance ; there was a ski, it looked like a short cross country style, but it had what looked like four bindings. They were not normal bindings; they looked like a dog could use them, for they were round. Very strange. But then, that ski was suddenly removed from its parked spot, and put on the bar. Now I saw what the bindings were for... four shot glasses,each filled with Jagermeister! Four synchronized drinkers then managed to stand shoulder to shoulder, and drink from this thing I came to find was a "shotski",and this was synchronized drinking- not yet an Olympic spotr
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.pbase.com/u35/kayakbiker/upload/23115643.15ShotSki.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pbase.com/image/23115643&h=474&w=576&sz=50&tbnid=XRuWpTkvvetOeM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=118&zoom=1&usg=__UQW3wcw46mcWAN3sDp0_DnXTpKc=&docid=DqlQ0MIiegDnWM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=o_4hULKhFsavygGki4GAAQ&ved=0CG0Q9QEwBQ
://i.pbase.com/u35/kayakbiker/upload/23115643.15ShotSki.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pbase.com/image/23115643&h=474&w=576&sz=50&tbnid=XRuWpTkvvetOeM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=118&zoom=1&usg=__UQW3wcw46mcWAN3sDp0_DnXTpKc=&docid=DqlQ0MIiegDnWM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=o_4hULKhFsavygGki4GAAQ&ved=0CG0Q9QEwBQ
Hmmm google pix wont let you link it, so just copy and paste it, or google shotski
Hmmm, just remembering Tommy Bartlett. name should ring a bell for anyone in,or near, Weeeeesconin Dells
I say let the guys compete... Let them do rhythmic gymnastics too if they want.
Pools and music for EVERYONE!
(In my head there is cheering...)
Men of the eye..................this one's for you! Enjoy. Men, come on, you gots to man up.........NO synchronized swimming or rhythmic gymnastics for you. Really....................
In my head, there is a thumbnail sketch of each of our Villagers. When I go for a swim at the local pool, I have to leave my inhaler with the lifeguard. Never mind women's teams and men's teams, I think we'd make a great comedy mixed team. Last time I was at the bottom of the pool was hunting a brick for my swimming competency tests when I was a youngster. Sorry, dancing in water girls - when synchonised swimming was accepted as an Olympic sport, my respect for the criteria of 'What is sport?' diminished. How soon before getting your shopping done by being speedy with a supermarket trolley is an Olympic sport?
HAZE..................glad you're feeling good & back! Your last question..............I think the crazy woman at my Kroger who almost mowed me down is practicing for the trials...............
ahem...call me whatever, but where does Men's Figure Skating figure in sports that aren't girly?
I'd like to call you Ishmael.................bwaaaaaahahaha.......
Perhaps we should have two separate teams: one for the men and one for the women.
Its water ballet. Ballerinos already exist on the stages of the world. Why not let them perform in the Olympics.
Dancers are athletes. Ballet workouts are quite rigorous. I would imagine that many of hte water ballerinos would be buff and masculine looking if they do weight training for their upper bodies.
I think we should quit getting our noses out of joint because someone might want to do it different than we dd.
It took a long time for ping pong to be an Olympic sport too.
How many of us girls grew up saying we could do whatever guys do? And sometimes better? Whatever either gender can do, they should be allowed to participate.
Three cheers for the 99 correct shots by the woman skeet shooter!!!
At least we know the Brits will have a team to compete.
Simmooltaneous swimming they’d call it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txp19ZNtFn8
and then the synchronized American tourists in London (please
wait for the isn’t she probably pretty?).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7H6v1xSZIU
PAOLOS..........I took a break & watched the isn't she pretty
Video..............it was breathtaking being off the farm.......
Now I'm wondering what non Amish men are like. My thoughts
Are not pure...........
CBABCOCK.................& it only took a hot second for late night
Comedians ( Of course I use that term loosely) to make it the
Butt of their jokes, go figure...........
Back to making goat soap.........................
Miss bebe ~ youtubed? Congratulations. Welcome to century 21...and why aren't you in school? Did the kiddles put you in detention?
Hazel, I'd love to join your team, but I will have to be the one who holds your inhaler from the shallow end of the pool :/ I've tried for forty years to swim and have only managed to "doggy paddle". I'm so envious of one who can swim! and IMAGINE someone who can swim upside down and sideways and whatever angle it takes to "synchro"... Guys, girls, whatever...sometimes, with Olympic athletes, it's hard to tell the difference anyway.
As an after thought, I'm MUCH more suited for Roadyacht's shotski team. I will promise my fellow villagers to train vigorously until this sport is included in the Olympics wherefore I will do my absolute best to lead our team to victory! CHEERS!
My parents have a little indoor lap pool at the back of their house. This past Christmas some of my nieces and nephews were swimming out there and came up with their own synchronized swimming routine. I'll have to call my sister in law and see if she'll send it to me so I can put it on my blog. They looked like they were ready to go pro ;)
I did syncronized swimming while at summer camp as a 12 year old. I loved it. I was young and strong and found the moves that enabled me to do stuff like lay flat on the water with a leg in the air just great. I've never forgotten that feeling. I don't get in the water much anymore, but once in awhile I get in there and I practice some of those moves. Let's just say, I'm no Esther Williams!
Graygoose~ Enjoy your rigourous training for the Shotski team!
Maybe one or two of you will enjoy this, it’s just a short
ten minutes, probably off topic, but that’s never stopped me before.
If you’ve seen it before, raise your hand and I’ll find
something else for you later, if not,
Open your heart and
drink…
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ&vq=medium
Thank you PAOLOS. C.F.D. Carpe Freaking Diem. Beautiful work. The colors alone were a gift. Thanks.
You are most welcome ChefDeb. I am here to please.
The photo
top left is one of my favorites and I captioned it thus:
Lady 1 “Who
fahrted”?
Lady 2 ♫ I Faaaaaaaaarrrrrrted. ♫
Lady 3 “Eeewww”.
I am sorry Tom. I
know it is sophomoric but it had to be said, I couldn’t hold back any longer.
I beg pardon.
That will all make no sense tomorrow.
paolos---Beautiful. I'm speechless (for once).
Ahem, now that the tears are out of my eyes, I'll talk about sync. Mr. P started the conversation with a reference to Hollywood, then moved on to dancing (of a sort). When I think of Holloywood and dancing,the most graceful I can think of is (sorry to my namesake...although it must be said she did it backwards and in heels!) Fred Astaire; the most athletic, Gene Kelley. We have male and female swimmers...so let the boys in, IF they shave their freaking legs. Look at the above photo...how would that look if they had really hairy legs??
Yes, there should be Mens, Womens, and Co-ed Teams....for synchronized Swimming...I did synchronized swimming for years, but Water Polo...a favorite sport....Water-polo practice involves swimming for three hours without touching bottom; poolside- pull-ups and resorting to all kinds of swimming athons....to upgrade your endurance...this was my pool practice schedule for water-polo..in the 80's ..tip...make friends with the goal keeper because at practice or in a game...she is a powerful contender....even though she is your team member and signed a oath creed gilded signature document.stated as such....it did not matter, if you were hurt by her hurling wet balls..too bad....and there is nothing like seeing a powerful wet ball coming down the pike in explosive speed towards the front of your face...and realize....that it is sheer painful doom for you...but exciting if you catch it! I posted my husky wolf on the community page....
Paolos you really open my heart with your recent You Tube Video..There is a share of happiness...wherever we may look!
PAOLOS when my son was in pre-school a young English boy named Jasper joined the class. Everyday my son would come home and say some thing like "Do you know what Jasper calls the elevator? The lift!" this went on for q number of days and became funnier as my son continued to be incredulous about the vocabulary differences. Finally one day he came home and said "Do you know what Jasper calls a fart?" "No. what does he call it?" "He calls it a faaaaaaart."
Thank you for bringing back such a funny memory! I think we laughed for a week and every holiday thereafter....
Tina and l marjorie---have to say I admire you! I'm with Hazel---I'd have to put my inhaler away to go that deep for that long. Dem wuz de good ol' days!
I getting ready for a name switcharoo... .a change....name...change...chip hip changing..putting on my Thinking Cap......Gustina.......Tina....VioletRose......Rose Violet.....so many aliases..now I am suppose to quit this nonsense....I....eye... I ...eye...I...eye I...
Corabritza.......no....don't go back to that..... no.... let me think.....new age..new ..age...now." Its"....going to,,,,be,,,,,,.be....to be....... ^ -^" IvyGailWinds.." ; )....that's it..!.New name...my theme will be Why Not Be Glad? I will post only happy thoughts and never murmur or complain, nor worry or fret...be fun-loving and optimistic....I promise.... IvyGailWinds..my new name...
Posted IvyGailWinds Identity Picture...and my wolf pup Calumet, Taro, the Akitas best friend...
http://www.dump.com/thisimpossible/ Fom water to the air
That's quite an act, magicangel. In 1974 a frenchman, Phillipe Petit, strung a cable between the twin towers and gave a similar performance, just a wee bit further off the ground.
"Like most men, my life is often a contest between brains and glands. And you would do well to bet Gray Matter to Place." Archy McNally. I'm a trifecta man. Love the sync-love the symmetry-love the gams.
Great memories of Esther Williams' movies! I used to look forward to all her films, and want to swim like that. Many of her movies were filmed in Cypress Gardens, Florida, near Winter Haven, too. She was an inspiration to swimmers for her making swimming look graceful and romantic, as well as athletic.
I vote NO on the male synchronized swimmers. It is graceful and feminine and I for one do not want to watch a bunch of girly guys lifting their legs into perfect pointed toes in the pool.Diving and the swim events already in the Olympics give us enough of the fellows in swim skin. JMHO
I do like to swim, but never mastered the diving except off the side of the pool. I never tried it off a board. I do like the side stroke, and will often swim laps just for the low impact exercise. I think every child should be taught to swim and tread water for the sake of safety. (Yes, I had lessons as a kid.)
It makes me sad to hear on the news of someone who drowned because that person never learned to swim. (Another pet peeve of mine is that our schools spend so much time and money on team sports, but not on life sports. I think education should include athletic activity that a person could do all his life!....Tennis, golf, badminton, swimming, etc.....)
Paolos~ Oh my God! The video is beyond beautiful...Thank you so much...It is what dreams are made of
Sigh........" Just when i thought it was safe to go back into the water......."
ETHEL.................it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world...............................
Peter, it's safe as long as you stay in the shallow end and wear your water wings! Just kidding---can't picture any of the Village men N'Sync anyway!
This entire episode brings to mind the Fitzgerald Room at the Greystone Inn in Asheville, North Carolina (a place you can imagine Gatsby slouching through, propping against the stone wall next to the great fireplace, or nursing a martini with Fitzgerald as they sit together in Fitz's usual room overlooking the entrance and drive). As we all know, Fitzgerald was given to fits of, shall we say, melancholy, so one night he took out a gun and, for no particular reason, shot a hole in the ceiling. They left the hole in place. Who wouldn't?