Swimmers from Thailand demonstrate the sport of synchronized swimming.

THOSE who attended the gala celebration of the 102nd anniversary of the Kokkine Swimming Club on January 3 were also treated to an exhibition of synchronized swimming, a sport that is unfamiliar to most people in Myanmar.

The 45-minute demonstration was provided by five girls, aged 11 to 17, who were visiting Myanmar as part of the 27-member Thai Friendship Swimming and Diving Team.

The team was in Yangon to take part in a Myanmar-Thai friendship swimming competition that was held at the National Swimming Pool on U Wisara Road from January 4 to 5.

The swimming and diving team was led by Mr Pratarn, also known as U Aung Than, a Myanmar swimmer now living in Thailand who had competed in the Second South East Asian Peninsular Games held in Yangon in 1961.

Synchronized swimming, which was added to the Olympic Games in 1984, is a hybrid of swimming, gymnastics and ballet involving competitors performing difficult movements while holding their breath and keeping afloat in water.

“A synchronized swimmer needs to have lungs as good as a diver’s, and must be as strong as a water polo player,” U Aung Than said.

“While dancing they float on the water, and they can dive without the help of oxygen and can control their breath better than ordinary people,” he said.
“Only someone with these abilities can compete in synchronized swimming,” he said.

U Aung Than said synchronized swimming he was introduced in Thailand about 10 years ago, but the team only started a training program for the sport about six years ago.

U Aung Than invited anyone who was interested in synchronized swimming to travel to Bangkok for free training, in order to help raise the standard of swimming in Myanmar.