History

While there is evidence of swimmers performing ballet-like maneuvers in the water in ancient times, the origin of synchronized swimming as an organized, competitive sport dates to the early 20th century. In the 1920s, a group of Canadian women, led by water polo player and diver Margaret Sellers, developed what they called 'ornamental swimming' from life saving and swimming techniques.

In 1907, Australian, Annette Kellerman, performing in a glass tank, had attracted national attention at the New York Hippodrome as the first underwater ballerina. Katherine Curtis, a student at the University of Wisconsin, experimented with diving actions and stunts in the water in 1915. Curtis started a water ballet club at the University of Chicago, called the Modern Mermaids, in 1923 and later performed in the lagoon at the Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago. The display at the 1934 Chicago World's Fair drew rave reviews.

Kellerman was an inspiration to a woman who would become a Hollywood phenomenon: Esther Williams, U.S. freestyle champion and Olympic contender, portrayed Kellerman's life in the musical Million Dollar Mermaid. She also performed in a string of MGM "aqua musicals" in the 1940s and '50s, which inspired young girls everywhere to begin learning synchronized swimming.

Over the next 20 years the sport grew, became very technical and athletic, music was added to the routines, and the name changed to "synchronized swimming". In 1960, after a world tour, U.S. swimmers demonstrated the sport at the Olympic Games in Rome. Synchronized swimming became an Olympic Sport in 1984 with solo and duet competition. Only duets (2 swimmers) and teams (8 swimmers) currently compete at the Olympic Games. The US is the only country, internationally, that competes trios (3 swimmers) at a national level.

Levels of competition

In Canada there are five different levels of competitive synchronized swimming:

The Novice level is for beginners, these athletes compete in three to four local competitions per season.  Two of the competitions focus on skills and the others have both figures (skills) and routines. 

The provincial level stream is age-based.  The age groups are: 10 and Under, 11-12, 13-15, and 16 and over.  For figures, solos, and duets the athletes compete in their own age group.  For teams a combination of different age groups is allowed.  In this case the average age of the team is used.  For information on synchronized swimming in the province of Ontario visit www.synchroontario.com .

The national stream athletes are divided by Tier levels.  Each tier level has two age groups, in Tier 6 athletes can be either 15 and Under or 16 and Over.  In Tier 7 athletes are divided into Junior (15-18) and Senior (18 and Over).  For information on synchronized swimming in Canada visit www.synchro.ca
 
There are also streams for University and Master’s athletes.  For information on synchronized swimming at the University level visit www.universitysynchro.ca .

Routine

In competitions swimmers have to do routines. This routines are composed of "hybrids", figures, and arm sections. The swimmers are graded on their performance based on technical merit and artistic impression. In a technical routine swimmers are required to perform "routine elements" in their routine. These elements are different for junior and senior competitions. The free routine does not have any required elements and is put together by the swimmer(s) and coaches. Routine can also have lifts or throws, in which a group of swimmers lift or throw another swimmer out of the water.

The type of routine and competition level determine the length of routines. Routines typically last two and a half to five minutes long in either solos, duets, trios, or teams, with solos being the shortest and teams being the longest. Swimmers are synchronized both to each other and to the music. During a routine swimmers can never use the bottom of the pool for support, but rather depend on sculling motions, and eggbeater kick to keep afloat.

Routines are scored on a scale of 10, with points for both artistic impression and technical merit. In some competitions, routines are required to have specific technical elements performed in a pre-determined order, much like figure skating. Athletes may also compete individually, performing technical elements in front of a panel of judges. Depending on the competition level, the swimmers will perform a free routine (no specific choreography requirement)and either a technical routine (with predetermined elements) or figures (a sequence of positions performed individually in from on a panel of judges.)

A new category has recently been incorporated into international Synchronized swimming called the Combo Routine. Up to 10 swimmers compete a single continuous routine with 2 segments of team (8 swimmers), 2 segments of duet and 2 segments of solo (1 swimmer) while the additional swimmers swim off to the side and tread water without touching the side or bottom of the pool. It is up to the discretion of the coach to determine the combinations of swimmers who will swim. For example, a single swimmer may compete in both duet segments with two different partners or a swimmer may perform just a single solo segment. This event is new but is gaining popularity with teams and audiences on an international level.

Information taken from wikipedia