The History of Synchronized Swimming

Unsung History

When the 1934 World’s Fair in Chicago was looking for an aquatic act to complement their new underwater lights, organizers turned to physical educator Katherine Curtis, who put together a wildly popular show called the Modern Mermaids. No one could quite figure out what to call it, trying out water ballet and figure swimming until a radio announcer landed on “synchronized swimming.” Soon synchronized swimming teams were forming and competing, but while the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) quickly embraced the sport, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) resisted, with the president of the IOC sneeringly referring to the sport as aquatic vaudeville. Finally, decades after the origin of synchronized swimming, the IOC voted to include it in the 1984 games in Los Angeles. Joining me in this episode to tell this history is writer and masters synchronized swimmer Vicki Valosik, author of Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Come Take a Swim in My Ocean,” composed by Gus Edwards with Lyrics by Will Cobb; this recording was performed by the Haydn Quartet in New Jersey on June 4, 1909; it is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Swimmers,” Harris & Ewing, photographer, 1936; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

• “History of Artistic Swimming,” USA Artistic Swimming.
• “The amazing life of Australia’s ‘million-dollar mermaid,’” by Luke Buckmaster, BBC, November 2, 2017.
• “The General Slocum Disaster of June 15, 1904,” by Valerie Wingfield, New York Public Library Archives Unit, June 13, 2011.
• “Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow (USA),” International Swimming Hall of Fame
• “Water Pageants, Games and Stunts,” by Olive McCormick, A. S. Barnes, incorporated, 1933.
• “1933 Modern Mermaids [video]” Property of Chicago Film Archives.
• “Rhythmic Swimming: A Source Book of Synchronized Swimming and Water Pageantry,” by Katharine Whitney Curtis, Burgess publishing Company, 1942.
• “1952: Avery Brundage, fifth IOC President,” International Olympic Committee.
• “No male artistic swimmers at Olympics after U.S. leave May out of squad,” by Lori Ewing, Reuters, June 8, 2024.

Synchro Routines:

• "Team Gold Medal [video],” Russian Olympic Committee, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games
• “Duet Gold Medal [video],” Romania, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games.

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