In the sport called artistic swimming, which used to be called synchronized swimming, which was called water ballet before that, the US and China are leading after two rounds at the Paris Olympics. Artistic swimming has a rather comical reputation among sports fans, who think of Esther Williams doing Busby Berkeley routines when they hear the term. The sport has many layers of difficulty that will be judged, and it takes a real athlete to do it. But it still looks kind of silly. It's what saves rhythmic gymnastics from being the silliest sport in the Olympic games.
There are those of us who cannot help but think of Saturday Night Live when the subject of artistic swimming comes up. The first episode of the otherwise forgettable season ten had a sketch called "Synchronized Swimming" starring Harry Shearer, Martin Short, and Christopher Guest which went on to become one of the most memorable SNL sketches ever. It was conceived after Harry Shearer watched the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles and was less than impressed. The skit was about two brothers competing as synchronized swimmers, even though one couldn't swim. To this day, those inside the sport blame this sketch for the lack of men participating in artistic swimming. Read the story of how that sketch came about at Cracked.
The article contains a clip from today's US Olympic performance, and a clip from an Esther Williams movie, too.