Male synchronized swimmer barred from olympics. Aquamaids will compete w/o him

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://origin.mercurynews.com/news/ci_8660049

Out of sync: Olympic rules bar Santa Clara man from swim competition
STILL, THE AQUAMAIDS' LONE MALE IS KEEPING HIS EYE ON THE PRIZE
By Denis C. Theriault
Mercury News

In the martial-ballet world of synchronized swimming, few do it better than Kenyon Smith.

Ask Smith, a member of the famed Santa Clara Aquamaids, about winning a spot in the Olympics and the answer comes right back: "I think I should." Coaches and teammates agree.

But when the national team heads to Beijing for the Summer Games, 18-year-old Smith will have to stay behind. Hanging over all the superlatives, skills and statistics is this: Smith is a man. The sport's international rules - which govern Olympic picks - ban men from the pool.

[cloudbase]

1. That's a sport?

Throw a couple of sharks in the pool, and then it might become one.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. It's a sport as much as dancing with the ribbon, ball or jumprope. Rhythmic Gymnatics

[Buzz Clik]

3. Exactly. It's not a sport.

It's pretty, but it's not a sport.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. I strongly disagree

Synchronized swimming requires a great deal of physical strength and endurance, and at least as much teamwork as any other team sport. I would say that a synchronized swimmer is a much more highly trained athlete than, say, an equestrian or football lineman.

[hulklogan]

7. It's certainly more of a sport than NASCAR n/t

[galledgoblin]

8. agreed (n/t)

[MADem]

15. Bingo!! Driving in circles burning fossil fuels is not sport, it's wasting gas! nt

[TechBear_Seattle]

20. A much better example than mine

:hi:

[jazzjunkysue]

22. But snowmobiling on ski jumps requires real training.

I swear it does. You have to be in top form.

Honestly, if you haven't tried syncronized swimming, you don't have a clue. It's really really hard. They don't let you breathe much, but you can never stop.

[Matariki]

12. And quilt making has no artistic merit, and child rearing isn't *real* work

and I bet you don't even understand what I'm talking about...

[Buzz Clik]

4. Remember the Martin Short SNL skit about male synchronized swimmers?

Short's character didn't know how to swim.

[tridim]

9. That's because the male rules we're slightly different..

They could only touch the bottom of the pool with the balls of their feet.

It's my favorite SNL sketch of all time. :)

[darkstar]

14. "I'm not that strong a swimmer....."

hahahaha

:hi:

[asdjrocky]

23. He was not a strong swimmer.

[jazzjunkysue]

24. I'm on the Olympic Syncronized Folding Chair Relay Squad.

This year, we're getting matching hawiian shirts.:hug:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

6. I don't think Ice Dancing is a sport, but Figure Skating is.

So there.

[tridim]

10. Figure skating is due for an "extreme" update IMO

They've been doing the same moves for 30 years.

[Buzz Clik]

13. Half pipes made of ice? That would be awesome!

[tridim]

21. At the very least, let them do flips

I think it was George Carlin who said to make basketball more exiting, have a gasoline fire burning at mid court. Then we'd really see the "fast break".

[Sarah Ibarruri]

11. I can understand it.

If it's a women's team, it's a women's team, or so I thought. If it's a co-ed team, it's a co-ed team.

[MADem]

16. The Olympics should probably start having some mixed teams, I think.

Why not?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

17. Well, why don't they start a men's team?

There's no frikkin' reason why there can't be women's teams, men's teams and mixed teams. Don't they have women's and men's soccer and other kinds of teams? If suddenly a man wanted to join a women's soccer team rather than a man's soccer team, or a mixed soccer team, that would be ridiculous and absurd.

[MADem]

18. Why not have a category for mixed teams? Make it interesting. NT

[Sarah Ibarruri]

19. Yep, he should start one. How does one start a team? However it's done, he should start one nt

[hulklogan]

25. It looks like the governing body for synchronized swimming hates men's teams

They wouldn't even let a men's team do an exhibition!

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060809/ai_n16659167

[Sarah Ibarruri]

27. Why? I would go see them. What's wrong with those people?

I think the fact that they don't want men doing synchronized swimming makes it seem (to me) that they're categorizing women somehow as only eligible for women-only sports and therefore, inferior. I don't know how to explain it. It is as if synchronized swimming were silly somehow and even men were not allowed to do it for its being silly. The same thing this society was doing when only women were teachers. They were mistreated during that time. Having men do synchronized swimming, because there still is a glass ceiling, would add more prestige to synchronized female swimmers.

[JackRiddler]

26. Of course it's a sport.

Any game that people want to call a sport *and* that involves humans competing against each other in the performance of physical feats, simultaneously or sequentially, individually or as teams, is a sport. It may bore you, but it's a sport. Synch swimming is a sport, dance (when in competition) is a sport, cheerleading is a sport (ugh!), ice skating and boxing are sports.

Chess is not a sport. It may require endurance and give a small advantage to the best-rested and healthiest, but the feats are not physical.

NASCAR, in which souped-up vehicles built by rich conglomerates race each other, is a technological competition, but the sport element (the drivers have to be fast and tough and all that) is secondary.

Next up, a useless debate about what is art?