Balding, paunchy and unshaven, this group of Stockholm friends in their 40s are making waves by pioneering a men’s synchronized swimming team, challenging stereotypes one aquatic pirouette at a time.
One evening earlier this month, these 18 amateur swimmers ran through their formations and underwater acrobatics under the watchful eye of their coach, Claudia Arasa.
They are tweaking their choreography before heading to Ibiza, where they are to compete in the Men’s Cup from Friday to Sunday.
Photo: AFP
The team members have diverse backgrounds, comprising a doctor, a tramway driver, a movie director and a teacher, among others.
However, what unites Anders, Mika, Elric and the others is their age — members must be over 40 — and physique. They must not be too well-trained; in fact, some are smokers and most have a hint of a belly, and are graying or balding.
Perhaps most importantly, they must have a good sense of diplomacy.
The latter is necessary for this motley crew to come together in the name of collective artistry.
“It’s like a rock band, we’re a group, with all the friction and all the energy that comes with being very close together,” said Sam Victorin, a member who cofounded Stockholm Simkonst Herr (“Stockholm Art Swim Gents”) in 2003.
The team does not compete in major international competitions — their philosophy is to “have fun, but we try to do it with a serious approach,” Victorin said.
“Some people thought when we started that we were trying to ridicule the sport, but it was the opposite,” he added.
Elric Sauze, a Frenchman who has lived in Sweden for seven years, joined the team because of his love of dance and swimming.
The design gallery curator from Brittany is not bothered by the stereotypes associated with the traditionally feminine, yet demanding discipline, known for its sparkly ballerina outfits.
“There is no sport for gay people, nor for straight people,” he said.
Their coach, a former artistic swimmer from Barcelona, agrees.
“From the sport point of view they’re very strong, but since they’re grown-ups they lack a bit of flexibility,” Arasa said.
However, they are very good at “holding their breath for a long time” — essential for the sport’s underwater formations, she added.
“The main challenge I have with them is that they love to talk, so I really have to make them pay attention to me,” said Arasa, who is a doctoral student in immunology when she is not coaching.
The team has been the subject of several documentaries and inspired hit movies, including the French comedy Sink or Swim and Britain’s Swimming With Men.
The swimmers hope that synchronized swimming — officially renamed artistic swimming in 2017 — would one day be open to men at the Olympic Games, as it is at the European and World Championships.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures