Synchronized swimming is a “reputation” sport, which means that it is virtually impossible for an athlete to come out of nowhere and surpass an established figure. Judging is subjective with definite political implications in national and international competition. Synchronized swimming is also like dance, ice skating, and ice dancing, where the artistic impression is extremely important in the overall scoring, adding to the subjective nature of the assessment of the performance.

The sport has tremendous physical performance requirements. Although lung capacity may be thought of as the most important physical quality in this sport, metabolic and orthopedic demands associated with physical preparation are real (Figure 1).

Research in the area of synchronized swimming and the injuries associated with the sport is virtually nonexistent. Studies conducted at the 1997 Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA) World Cup by Chinese researchers evaluated the anthropometric requirements of 81 international synchronized swimmers, comparing them with Chinese elite synchronized swimmers. Their conclusions were that a great deal of similarity existed between synchronized swimmers of all countries, and that the Russian swimmers had the best body characteristics for the sport. It is interesting that the Russians happened to be the gold medal group for this competition. Russian swimmers were found to be of moderate height (mean; eq 165.2 cm) and weight (mean = 55.2 kg), with an average body composition of 19.83% body fat. The Chinese also found the Russian swimmers to have larger shoulder breadths, longer arm length, and narrower pelvis breadth when compared with normals. The mean values of somatotype are 3.8-3.3-3.2.<sup>1 Chu D.A.   Jumping into Plyometrics Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics (1998). 

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références, 2 Peiling D.   A Characteristic Study of Bodily Form of Elite Synchronized Swimmers in the World. Unpublished study, FINA World Cup Competition Guangzhou, P.R.: South Normal China University (1997). 

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références</sup> The American team, which finished 8th overall, had very similar body measurements but with greater variability in each measurement category. The U.S. team had longer legs and arms and lower body fat than the Russian team. The Chinese study concluded that the Russian swimmer body type is ideal and should be used as a selection criteria for synchronized swimmers.<sup>2 Peiling D.   A Characteristic Study of Bodily Form of Elite Synchronized Swimmers in the World. Unpublished study, FINA World Cup Competition Guangzhou, P.R.: South Normal China University (1997). 

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références</sup> It would have been interesting to see a comparison of the Russian Team with the 1996 US Olympic team in Atlanta, which recorded the first and only perfect scores in Olympic competition, at a heretofore unseen level of difficulty.

Five years of longitudinal data accumulation with the Santa Clara Aquamaids swim club, the 1998 National Champions, and the six time reigning National Champions indicates a high incidence of the following joint problems: multidirectional shoulder instability, low back pain, medial stress syndrome of the knees, and various soft tissue strains. To truly appreciate the dominance of this club, one must realize that Santa Clara has won the solo, duet, and team titles at the United States Synchronized Swimming Championships for the past 6 years. They report a much higher incidence of injury than other clubs might because of the level of intensity involved in their workouts, the length of practices, and the complexity of their routines. Each of the problems will be discussed separately.