More on men's synchronized swimming

In Grantland, Michael Bertin looks at the issue of men's synchronized swimming, including the FGG/London/Paris letter to IOC and FINA:

It was a joke: Martin Short and Harry Shearer were two male synchronized swimmers who had given up everything in their quest for Olympic gold.

It was made all the more ridiculous by the fact that (a) Martin Short couldn't swim and (b) there was no men's event even in the Olympics. And the premise for this Saturday Night Live sketch was so well executed that, almost 30 years later, few people have even bothered to revisit the subject.

But 30 years later men's synchronized swimming is also no longer a joke, which is to say there are men who do it, and they take it seriously. Honest. And, in a bizarre instance of art imitating future life, they want to go to the Olympics.

In June of this year, Paris Aquatique, the London-based club Out to Swim, and the Federation of Gay Games sent a jointly signed letter to ICO President Jacques Rogge and FINA President Julio Maglione appealing for inclusion of men in synchronized swimming at the Olympics. And they are completely not kidding.

From the letter: "[It's] a sport with a long history of men's participation, and which is growing in number and quality of participants. Despite the goals announced by British Olympic authorities to make the 2012 Summer Olympics a place for true equality, men will remain excluded from this discipline in London."

"Growing" is a relative term, and, admittedly, the talent pool isn't that deep. Stephen Adshead, who manages the men's synchro team at OTS, says there are "about 20" men in the U.K. practicing at the club, with "more in France." Moreover, it might seem a little disingenuous for OTS to argue on history, as the club has only been doing synchro since 2010, but when it comes to competing they aren't kidding around. They've got a former Soviet-bloc synchronized swimmer for their coach and have picked up gold medals at the last two EuroGames as well as gold at the last Gay Games.

And the sport's male reach is reasonably international, with competing teams in Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Sweden. There is actually a pretty great documentary called Men Who Swim about that very cadre of men in Stockholm who have taken up synchro (highlighted by a scene in which their female coach calls them "pussies" for opting to perform in wetsuits).

Read more about male synchronized swimming on Grantland

FGG/London Angels/Paris Aquatique appeal on ABC News

From ABC News: At the Queen Mother Sports Centre in the heart of London, a group of medal-winning athletes is training for one of the most demanding Olympic competitions-- synchronized swimming. Their sport requires precision, teamwork and stamina.

But no matter how hard they train, no matter how good they are, this team isn't welcome at the 2012 Summer Games, for one simple reason: They're men.

Synchronized swimming was first demonstrated at the Olympics in 1952, and didn't become an official sport until 1984, but then it was only opened to female teams. The Out To Swim Angels are Britain's only male synchronized swimming team. Last month they [with FGG and Paris Aquatique] wrote a letter to the International Olympic Committee and FINA, swimming's governing body, arguing that men deserve to compete in synchronized swimming as well. "There's still this same of sort old mindset. Oh well it's pretty, it's for girls," said team member Ronan Daly. "But no, we want to challenge that and say boys can do this as well." Keep reading HERE.

Out to Swim at opening ceremony

Members from Out to Swim performing in opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Nice show!

Out to Swim in the middle of the Channel!

It's on now! Follow on Facebook HERE.

Out To Swim members will swim from Dover to Calais to raise money for Central London Samaritans 

24 June 2012 | By Joe Morgan in Gay Star News:
 

A gay and lesbian relay team will be swimming the 21 miles of the English Channel for charity this week.
Six members of British club Out To Swim will plunge into the 14 degree waters off the coast of England, swimming one by one for an hour at a time, before reaching Calais in France.

They will be doing this task in the aim of raising money for the Central London Samaritans, a charity that provides confidential emotional support for anyone experiencing feelings of distress or despair, which can lead to suicide.

All experienced swimmers, the six gay men and women have trained for months to be able to withstand the ice cold temperatures and marathon distance.

Keep reading HERE.

Out to Swim tell their story for BT Storytellers program celebrating London 2012

The following story from London's Out to Swim was written as content for the BT Storytellers programme celebrating the London 2012 Olympics.


Our Greatest Team
In the first week of August 2010, a team of 116 gays and lesbians arrived in Cologne, Germany for the 8th Gay Games.


The Gay Games is the world's largest sporting and cultural event organised specifically for LGBT athletes. Established in San Francisco in 1982, the Gay Games were the brainchild of Tom Waddell, whose goals were to promote the spirit of inclusion and participation, as well as the pursuit of personal growth in a sporting event.

Here we were, 28 years later, marching into a massive stadium like proper athletes, 80s pop legend Taylor Dayne on stage belting out the theme song for the games, a crowd of people from around the world buzzing with excitement and anticipation of the competition ahead of us, the challenges that we face and the sweet dream of gold medals to prove that all of that training and hard work was worthwhile.

We were the team from Out To Swim, the UK's largest masters aquatics club for the LGBT community - a team of swimmers, water polo players, and synchronised swimmers in Cologne to show the world what we could do.

As one of the largest teams at the games, our presence at all of the aquatics events was undeniable - not only were we a force to be reckoned with in the pool, but you could always rely on plenty of vocal support from your team-mates, shouting encouragements (and the occasional bawdy chant) from the sidelines.

What made this team great was not just the medals (although there were plenty of those), it was the sense that we came away from Cologne as a stronger and more united team than when we arrived. By working as a team we pushed ourselves harder, performed better and celebrated more than ever before.

The 9th Gay Games will be held in Cleveland in the US in 2014. Once again we are going in force. Once again we will be great.

London Orcas brave the cold streets of Soho to promote coming pool party

M

 Details and tickets HERE.

A message from Gareth Johnson from the Out to Swim London swim club:

Well that was an interesting experience!

As part of our PR drive for the Out To Swim Pool Party 2012, our social rep Ming organised a Soho Speedo Splash!

It was the Sunday evening of the May Bank Holiday weekend, and at 19:00 a hardy group of eight OTS-ers assembled at Rupert Street. In the squad were Ming, Ian E, Gareth W, Andrejus L, Tommy T, Stephen L, Tristan G (our official photographer) and myself. It wasn't really until we were all there that it kind of hit me that it was only Ming and myself who had agreed to strip down to speedos, everyone else was keeping their OTS t-shirts (and jeans) safely on...

Despite the cold (like, seriously cold), we had a lot of fun and had a great reception from everyone as we wandered around Soho chatting to people and handing out flyers. We started with Rupert Street, moved on to The Yard, The Village, Admiral Duncan, Circa, The Edge, Candy Bar, Profile and Ku (Chinatown).

One of the best receptions we got was in Candy Bar which was having a busy night but all the women were really friendly and interested in what we were doing and the event we were promoting.

With our flyers all handed out we headed to Kopi Tiam (a nearby Malaysian restaurant) to warm up, eat some food, and share stories about our adventures that evening.

Out to Swim synchro team asks why men are barred from 2012 Olympics

From The Independent:

At a central London sports centre, six hairy legs emerge from a swimming pool in time to a beat before coquettishly disappearing again. This is Britain's only men's synchronised swimming team – the Out to Swim Angels – and they want to know why men are barred from the sport at the Olympics.

The group of men in sequinned trunks has set out to disprove claims that this year's Olympic Games has broken down the last bastion of sporting sexism. London 2012 organisers claimed this would be the first Games which made all sports available to men and women, but the Angels disagree. Men are still barred from competing in synchronised swimming, despite the fact that members of the team have won international events at the highest level.

Last year the Angels took home a gold medal at the Eurogames in Rotterdam, but they want the next generation to have a chance at Olympic glory. Richard Snow, 34, an interior designer and founder member of the team, said: "Originally there weren't many sports women could compete in, so having synchro for women only was about letting them have more sports [of their own]. But times have moved on and the rules should be reversed. I feel sad that men can't compete. Bit by bit we hope we can break down the barrier for men. Hopefully that will mean teams start including boys from a young age."

Keep reading HERE.

Out to Swim and the Gay Games

Out to Swim celebrates its 20th anniversary. Here's a very personal story of what it means to discover and particpate in the Gay Games and LGBT sport.

Time Out London profiles London Orcas water polo club

From Time Out London:


'New year, new you' needn't mean joining a gym. There are other ways of keeping fit - swimming for instance, or taking up water polo. London's lesbian and swimming club Out To Swim will be 20 this year. Inspired by the swimming teams at the Gay Games in Vancouver in 1990, the club has gone from strength to strength, regularly competing at national and international competitions and expanding to include a synchronized swimming team as well as regularly competing in open water events. And they have their own water polo club, London Orca. Established in 2002, they compete in local London league and international competitions, and are currently looking to recruit new members. Gareth Johnson is the club's Finance Officer and goal keeper, and has been a member for the past eighteen months.

'We have an active squad of 60. Of course some are more active than others. We train twice a week and attendance ranges from 20 to 30 at each session. At the heart of the squad is our “A Team”, who are the players that compete in our London league matches. They run the training sessions and provide the coaching and development support for anyone new to the game. But at every training session we have players with a range of skills and experience, from first timers learning the ropes to experienced players that have been playing since school.'

Keep reading HERE.