These ladies are BAMF. Seriously.
Thanks to the wonders of the BBC, I’ve actually been watching the Olympics, and had things to talk about with my coworkers, though I’ve noticed I don’t really watch the same array of sports as most of them. Sure, everyone gets in to gymnastics. But I’ve been all about track cycling lately, which I’m guessing maybe isn’t a thing unless you already like zooming around on bicycles.
I ran out of cycling events to watch yesterday with the Women’s Omnium finishing (SCREAM LAURA TROTT YOU ARE SO AWESOME) and nothing else was really jumping out at me, so I decided to take a look at synchronized swimming.
I already knew that synchronized swimming is super hard; I’ve got a friend (hi Cam!) who used to do it. I didn’t really need the British announcer lady reminding me constantly that these athletes train for ten hours a day, five days a week. But there’s a certain defensiveness to it, I think.
Because yeah. When you tell people you’ve been watching synchro, I’ve noticed that they smirk at you in a particularly annoying way. Because apparently it’s not a real sport, or something.
(Ever notice that the things that are smirked at over not being Real Sports tend to be the ones that just ladies do? Like rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming. Though I have also heard people dissing trampoline gymnastics.)
So far my standard answer has been to suggest locking said smirker in a room with a synchronized swimming duet and see who comes out with the win from that encounter. That normally ends with an admission that yes, they would get their ass kicked in a most humiliating way. I think anyone in their right mind wouldn’t really want to fuck with a woman who can hold her breath for two minutes with her head pointed straight down as her legs kick through the air so quickly you can’t actually see them. And then she smiles the entire time.
Seriously. Just because it’s pretty doesn’t make it any less of an insanely difficult, bad-ass sport.