与之前的游泳追求竞速不同，花样游泳更加优雅。作为奥运会仅有的几个只有女子选手参加的项目，花样游泳是根据音乐编排的复杂动作，这和在水中做体操相似。花样游泳的起源要追溯到20世纪初，当时水上表演在美国很风靡。后来由凯瑟琳•柯蒂斯发展成为一项职业运动，她带领着她的一群学生在1933-1934年芝加哥“进步的世纪”展会上有着出色的表演。柯蒂斯的学生引起了人群的欢呼，比赛的广播员创造了一个新的词汇“花样游泳”，于是一项美丽的运动诞生了。

    Although synchronized swimming originally appeared at the 1984 Olympics in its solo and duet forms, by the time Sydney 2000 came around, an 8-person team event had been added to the programme. In Beijing, all eyes will be fixed on the glamorous Chinese twins Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen. Although these young swimmers require an exceptional performance to challenge the dominant Russians for gold, their undoubted talent will attract a lot of attention this summer. Modest almost to a fault, the twins' encouraging performance at the recent Asian Games was China's best ever showing in the sport, and China's synchronized swimmers will all be looking to build on that achievement this summer.

    尽管这项比赛只是在1984年奥运会上以独奏和二重奏的形式出现 ......