OLYMPIC SYNC. SWIMMING

The great Australian swimmer, Annette Kellerman, planted the first seed of what was to become synchronized swimming when she performed "water ballet" in a glass tank at the New York Hippodrome in 1907.

Katherine "Kay" Curtis didn't see the performance, but she may well have been inspired by newspaper accounts. As a student at the University of Wisconsin in 1915, Curtis began experimenting with underwater swimming stunts. The following year, she was instrumental in having synchronized swimming added to the school's physical education program for women.

Curtis moved on to the University of Chicago, where she founded a water ballet club in 1923. Sixty of her swimmers, known as the "Modern Mermaids," performed at the 1934 Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago, attracting national and international publicity.

The sport quickly became popular among young women in the Chicago area and Curtis developed rules for competition, based essentially on the scoring methods used in gymnastics, diving, and figure skating.

The first recorded competition was held May 27, 1939, between Chicago Teacher's College, coached by Curtis, and Wright Junior College of Illinois.

Shortly afterward, synchronized swimming received another major publicity boost from Billy Rose's Aquacade, formed for the 1939 New York World's Fair and featuring Olympic swimmers Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weismuller. The Aquacade was so popular that it was also booked at the 1940 World's Fair in San Francisco, starring Esther Williams.

The Central Association of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) staged the first multi-team competition in Wilmette, Illinois, on March 1, 1940. The following year, the AAU officially accepted synchronized swimming as a competitive sport for dual and team events.

Three Chicago clubs competed in the AAU's first trial national championship in Neenah, Wisconsin, in August of 1942. Further national competition was delayed by World War II, but in 1946 the first formal national championships were conducted by the AAU.

The solo event was added to the national championship program in 1950. (Some have objected that "solo synchronized swimming" is an oxymoron, since it takes two to synchronize. In fact, the performance is synchronized to music, not to another person's movements.)

Synchronized swimming became an Olympic Games at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, with solo and duet competition. They were replaced by competition among eight-member teams in 1996, but the duet event will be restored to the Olympic program in 2000.

WOMEN'S EVENTS ONLY

SOLO (discontinued)
1984 Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, USA
1988 Carolyn Waldo, Canada
1992 Kristen Babb-Sprague, USA

DUET
1984 Candy Costie & Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, USA
1988 Michelle Cameron & Carolyn Waldo, Canada
1992 Karen Josephson & Sarah Josephson, USA
1996 NOT HELD
2000 Olga Brusnikina & Maria Kisseleva, Russia
2004 Anastasia Davydova & Anastasia Ermakova, Russia

TEAM
1996 United States
2000 Russia
2004 Russia