Ask synchronized swimmers to pinpoint the genesis of the ridicule frequently heaped upon their sport, they will likely cite a 1984 Saturday Night Live mockumentary starring Harry Shearer and Martin Short as brothers who have devoted their lives to winning an Olympic gold medal in synchro.
“Men have never done synchronized swimming in a sanctioned competition,” says Shearer, pitch-perfect in his evocation of a man-on-a-ridiculous-mission. “Officially it’s got like zero acceptance.”
Well, until now. The sport is still almost 100 percent women, but since 2003, a San Francisco synchronized swimming team, competing under the auspices of the gay swim club Tsunami, has featured men who scull and eggbeat in the pool right alongside their female teammates. In the process, the squad — practitioners of patented moves like the “slutty tub” — has shaken up the normally staid world of competitive Masters (post-college) synchro, pushing the limits of acceptable creative expression in the pool and raising questions about discrimination.
This is not your mother’s synchro squad.
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