--- description: From eerie fairytale inspired routines to over the top outfits and makeup, TIME presents the best pictures of the glamorous yet misunderstood sport of synchronized... title: Synchronzied Swimming at the 2012 London Olympic Games image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84bee986b883b81a/6998b3c8c8dcb4951cb4e033/002-033455731.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) * [olympics](/tag/olympics/) # The Strange but Beautiful Art of Synchronized Swimming by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Aug 7, 2012 9:18 PM CUT  Russia's Natalia Ishchenko and Russia's Svetlana Romashina compete in the Duet Free Routine Preliminary during the Synchronized Swimming competition held at the Aquatics Center during the London 2012 Olympic Games in London, Aug. 6, 2012. Russia's Natalia Ishchenko and Russia's Svetlana Romashina compete in the Duet Free Routine Preliminary during the Synchronized Swimming competition held at the Aquatics Center during the London 2012 Olympic Games in London, Aug. 6, 2012.Patrick B. Kraemer / EPA by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) Aug 7, 2012 9:18 PM CUT From eerie fairytale inspired routines to over the top outfits and makeup, TIME presents the best pictures of the glamorous yet misunderstood sport of synchronized swimming at the 2012 London Olympics. (**MORE:** [How They Train: Synchronized Swimming with Sean Gregory](http://http://olympics.time.com/2012/06/27/synchronized-swimming-no-joke/ "undefined")) (**MORE**: [Olympic Highlights in Photographs](http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/28/olympic-highlights-in-photographs "undefined")) Synchronzied Swimming at the 2012 London Olympic Games ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7215280/the-strange-but-beautiful-art-of-synchronized-swimming/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7215280/the-strange-but-beautiful-art-of-synchronized-swimming/"},"headline":"The Strange but Beautiful Art of Synchronized Swimming","datePublished":"2012-08-07T21:18:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T14:36:49.798Z","description":"From eerie fairytale inspired routines to over the top outfits and makeup, TIME presents the best pictures of the glamorous yet misunderstood sport of synchronized...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7215280/the-strange-but-beautiful-art-of-synchronized-swimming/","keywords":["olympics","11490"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84bee986b883b81a/6998b3c8c8dcb4951cb4e033/002-033455731.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84bee986b883b81a/6998b3c8c8dcb4951cb4e033/002-033455731.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Olympics Duet Synchronized Swimming","caption":"Russia's Natalia Ishchenko and Russia's Svetlana Romashina compete in the Duet Free Routine Preliminary during the Synchronized Swimming competition held at the Aquatics Center during the London 2012 Olympic Games in London, Aug. 6, 2012.","creditText":"Patrick B. Kraemer / EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/olympics/","name":"olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7215280/the-strange-but-beautiful-art-of-synchronized-swimming/","name":"The Strange but Beautiful Art of Synchronized Swimming"}}]}] ```