(woman): Yeah, guys!
(dramatic music)
(music slowing)
- Oh, my, oh!
(laughter)
(Zach): We're the Try Guys, and we absolutely
love the Olympics.
(Ned):
We can't get enough of it!
(Eugene): But to be honest,
there's a lot we don't know.
(Ned): So we want to become the ultimate Olympic experts
the best way we know how...
by trying!
(Keith):
(Eugene):
- Artistic swimming.
One of the most deceptively challenging sports
in all the Olympics.
(joyful music)
On the surface, elegance, grace, beauty,
but beneath the surface,
a very different story.
- There's probably a lot of legs moving around all weird.
Three minutes? Under water?
They keep their eyes open the whole time?
(Ned): Turning. Flipping.
Cold. Although, not cold,
apparently, the pool is heated.
- I'm excited for that. - Yeah!
Today, we're gonna try and learn artistic swimming
in one day.
- Did we bite off more than we could chew?
Definitely.
- But luckily, we've got some help.
(loudly): Hi, Team USA!
(all): Hi, Try Guys!
(loudly): Thanks for agreeing
to teach us artistic swimming
today, Team USA!
(all): You're welcome!
(loudly): So, what exactly is artistic swimming?
(all): Well, why don't we show you?
(Eugene): Do you say everything in unison?
(all): Yes.
(Try Guys laughing)
(Eugene): Okay, okay!
Shawn Mendes or Harry Styles?
(all): Harry Styles.
- Wha-- (Try Guys laughing)
(uptempo music)
(Zach): Wow, so proper.
(swimmer instructing softly)
(Try Guys): Whoa!
- Little switch-up! (Keith): Okay, robots!
(Zach): Oh, I see you!
Oh my gosh! (Keith): Oh! There they go!
(music continues)
(Try Guys): Whoa!
- How did she lift up w-- What?!
- And I thought Daft Punk broke up...
(Eugene chuckles)
- Look, I'm seeing a lot of splish-splash,
they're making little funny faces.
This seems up my alley.
(Ned screams) (Eugene): Oh my god!
(all): Whoa!
- They are kinda like dolphins. - Yeah.
(Keith): What?! (Ned): Wow.
(Zach): Oh my god!
(overlapping exclamations and applause)
- That was amazing.
It's so nice to meet you guys!
- Thank you. - Nice to meet you too.
- If you guys could define what is artistic swimming.
(Anita): Yeah. - What is it?
- I think it's a mix between gymnastics,
dancing and swimming in the water.
- So, they took some of the hardest sports
and then decided, "You know what would be funny?
What if we did it under water?" - Doing it in water!
(Ned): Yeah! - Exactly!
- While holding your breath and upside-down.
You don't wear goggles and you have to synchronize
with the rest of your teammates.
- Oh my god.
(Zach): Artistic swimming, synchronized swimming?
Are we talking about the same thing?
- Yeah. - Yeah. It used to be called synchronized swimming,
and they just recently changed it to artistic swimming.
- 'Cause it could be anything.
It doesn't have to be in synch. It could be artistic.
(Andrea): Yeah. (Anita): Exactly.
Some of the routines are more free
so you can do cool choreography
and it doesn't have to be everyone exactly synchronized the whole time.
- How did artistic swimming even become a thing?
(narrator):
- Hi, Narrator.
(narrator):
took place in Ancient Rome
when emperors staged all-female aquatic spectacles in lakes.
Bathing suits not required.
When in Rome...
Fast-forward to the 19th century,
with the staging of aqua dramas in theatres
spanning Europe and the United States.
Swimming as entertainment
soon grew into a sport
with the first contest held in the 1890s for men
and in the 1920s for women.
In 1934,
the modern mermaids performed at the Chicago World Fair
with a live band completely in synch.
That's how synchronized swimming got its name.
(lively music)
It didn't take long for Hollywood to catch on
with Busby Berkeley extravaganzas
and Technicolor water musicals.
And Esther Williams' artistry and killer smile
helped take synchronized swimming mainstream.
(music crescendos and ends)
In 1984, synchronized swimming
became one of just two female-only Olympic sports
the other being rhythmic gymnastics.
Throughout the sport's Olympic history,
Russia has earned the most gold medals
in both team and duet events.
Oh, and don't call it synchronized swimming.
In 2017, the name was changed to artistic swimming.
Synchronization is just one part
of this highly technical and artistic sport.
(Keith): So, how long do you typically train in this sport
to be good at it?
- Our national team, we train six to eight hours a day,
six days a week.
- What?! - And we've been doing this for years now, so...
- Are there any dangers in this sport?
- Actually, people have been getting more concussions lately
just with all the lifts and acrobatics.
- I think we are ready.
Uh, let's get in the pool and start training!
- Yeah. I think that before getting in,
I will teach you some things on land
because we'll do gymnastics and a bit of flexibility
so let's start with this.
- Alright, before we get in the water,
we're gonna teach you some of the sculls on land
so that when you're upside down,
you'll know what to do with your arms.
- When we're upside down.
- When you're upside down. - Okay.
(Anita): So, the basic scull is support scull.
So, when our legs are up and our heads under water,
we have our hands palms up,
make sure it's at a 90-degree angle,
so, don't let it open and you don't want it to be smaller either.
And pretend that there's pressure.
So, as if you have something heavy on top of your hands.
And you want to go in and out.
Pretend like you're getting the pressure of-- - Ooh, so heavy!
- I'm like a T-Rex showing off my belongings.
- We're gonna start opening up our lungs...
(Ned): Oh. - ...to have a better capacity, okay?
- We're gonna stretch our lungs?
(Andrea): Uh, literally, yes.
Okay, breathe in and one,
two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight.
And hold, one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight.
Slow, one, two... four... six, nine... eleven...
fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen,
and hold, one... three... five...
and eight.
And one - slow - two... (laughter)
(Keith inhales noisily)
- It got very stressful...
- Now, I think we are ready,
so Anna will teach you how to stretch your legs
because the more extension you have,
the more points you will have also.
(Anna): Can you sit, please? (Keith): Yes!
- I thought you'd never ask.
- Follow Anita, please. (Zach): Okay.
- Anita, can you sit on your points?
(♪ The Blue Danube ♪ plays)
Nice.
- Oh what?! (incredulous laughter)
- You can do that, maybe, she won't notice.
- Oh, I'm afraid, I'm afraid!
(Zach): We're not gonna break our toes here?
(Keith): Ow! (Anita): No.
Make sure you don't have your ankles tight
so you don't roll them.
- Ah!
(Anna): You two are done. (Zach): (beep!)
- Keep going, please.
(screaming)
Okay! Finished this exercise.
(exclamations of relief)
- Oh my god!
- So, can you show us, how flexible does Ned need to be?
- So, Anita straighten your leg.
And... (Keith): Okay, cool, that's pretty far--
Oh my gosh! - We go...
(Keith): Oh my gosh! (overlapping exclamations)
(all): No! (Keith): Oh my god!
(Zach): Okay, do it to Ned, do it to Ned!
You're up, buddy! - Ah!
(Anna): Are you ready?
(Zach): You're so brave. - Yes, I'm ready.
- And let's go. - A-yeah!
- Let's go. - Okay.
- Okay. (grunting): Okay. Okay!
(Anna): I can continue... - Ned loves a bad idea.
- Team USA, Team USA, Team USA, Team USA!
Team USA. (Keith): Yeah!
- I think it'd be really helpful for us
to see someone demonstrate this in the water.
(Anita): Okay.
Wendy's gonna show you a crane position.
(Try Guy): Go, Wendy! - She's gonna be 90 degrees with her legs,
and her arms are gonna be
working hard in the support scull.
(Zach): Okay, she's upside down.
- Wow. Oh my gosh. - Oh my gosh!
- Next skill we're gonna learn is egg beaters.
It's when we're right side up
and we're doing all of our strokes,
our legs move in, like, an egg beater formation.
So, it goes, like, right, left, right, left.
- So the egg beater is to keep the upper body above
and pretty still. (Anita): Yeah.
(Eugene): It wasn't like they were sinking at all.
- Exactly, you have to disconnect the different parts of your body.
So your legs are moving hard
and your upper body is completely still.
- It's very much like a squid
if you don't have connections in your body.
(Anita): Yes. (laughter)
You guys want to do body boost?
You start with the same egg beater,
and then, you do a breast-stroke kick.
(Zach): What are you talking about?
- Huh? (Zach): How-- No!
- Huh? - What did you push off of?
- Water. - The water. (laughing)
- Do you ever, like, scream when you do it?
- No. (Keith): Give us a taste of what that might be like.
- One, two, three!
(screaming)
(laughter)
- Yeah!
- We're beautifully drowning!
I can't wait to get in the water.
- I guess that's the next step, huh?
- Yeah.
(classical waltz)
(Anita): We're gonna start with the sculls that we learned on land.
The back layout scull, which is...
(swimmer): Yes! And try to apply the skill.
- Like this? (swimmers): Yes!
(swimmer): Try to engage your core,
'cause that'll help you with your feet.
(swimmer): And try to put-- - What's a core?
(laughter)
(Zach): Now I'm scullin'! (swimmer): Yeah.
(Anita): You're gonna lift one leg up to a ballet leg.
And then, you're gonna bend in your other leg,
which is the flamingo that you saw earlier.
And then, you're gonna join to double ballet leg.
(Zach): You got it, Keith!
(Anita): Okay, so, back layout.
(Zach): Yes, Keith. (Anita): Yeah, perfect.
(Zach): Get that scull! (swimmer): Now, one leg.
(laughter)
- That's impossible!
(Ned): So, I'm here.
(Anita): And lift. (Zach): Yeah, Ned!
(overlapping chatter)
- Straight up, straight up!
- Straight, straight, straight!
(cheering)
(Zach): Flamingo!
- Let's do the work on the egg beaters.
(Keith): Egg beater, sir.
(Ned): Legs are making pancakes! (Anita): Yeah.
And then, from here, we could do the body boost
which is like the breast-stroke kick to the bottom of the pool.
Ready. Five, six, seven, eight!
(Try Guys screaming) (laughter)
- We could not look less impressive!
(laughter)
(Anita): Next, we're gonna move on to the crane.
This is when your head's gonna be under water
so now, we're gonna flip upside down.
(laughing): Okay... Alright. Let's give it a go.
(ominous music)
- You look like someone's kid who got lost--
(laughter)
Mom?!
- Okay, here we go!
- Head to the bottom.
(Ned): Give it everything you've got!
(laughter)
That was a... that was hot ankles!
- Was it something? - It was-- Yeah! It was beautiful!
- What do kids do?
'Cause there's no way you go right to this.
- You do backward somersaults.
(Zach): Teach us that! - Okay!
- Teach us the baby stuff!
(Ned): Teach us the floating. - Please!
(Anita): Basically, you just roll in a ball.
(lullaby-style music)
(swimmer): So, just bring your knees...
(Zach): Yeah!
(Keith): Team USA!
Yeah!
(Zach): Yeah!
- Now, we're gonna do a lift.
One person grabs each foot and then, push on one.
(Eugene): Okay. - Everyone has to push together on the same count.
And... under. Yeah.
- Ha!
(Keith): Did we do it? (Zach): Not even a little bit.
- What do you say we choreograph a little routine?
- Yeah, let's do it! - Let's do it!
(Keith): Oh yeah!
Obviously, we're not getting any better,
so maybe we should
load a bunch of visually cool stuff that's easy
and then, we'll do one or two tricks to round it out.
(two swimmers): Sounds good.
(Anita): Alright, let's do our robot arms,
so we'll go...
Left arm forward,
right arm back.
And then, we'll switch.
(Keith exhales)
(Anita): One, two, three, four...
(Try Guys): Five, six, seven, eight.
- Jump on one.
(overlapping discussion)
Lay out with your legs straight.
Connect-- - Touch my toes!
- Keith, get your feet up!
Okay, now, open to "V".
- Yeah, touching toes, yeah!
Fellas, let's show 'em what we got!
(narrator):
First, you need the Olympic rules.
In the artistic swimming team competition,
each team performs two routines to music:
the technical and free routines.
And their scores are added together
to determine the winners.
For both routines, there are three panels of five judges.
That's right, 15 judges!
In the three-minute technical routine,
the team performs a required set of elements
of multiple skills like twists, spins, airborn splits,
and lifts in a specific order, set by the judges.
For the technical routine,
one panel judges execution,
which is worth up to 30 points of the routine's total score.
The second panel judges impression,
also worth up to 30 points.
And the score for elements is worth up to 40 points
of the routine's total score.
In the four-minute free routine,
teams are exactly that: free.
They are allowed to create their own choreography
with whatever content they want.
As long as they stick
to a max of six acrobatic elements.
Execution is worth up to 30 points of the total routine.
Difficulty is also worth up to 30 points.
And the score for artistic impression
is worth up to 40 points of the total routine.
That adds up to a possible total of 200 points
for the technical and free routines combined.
- Now presenting Team number 1,
the Try Guys, performing their free routine.
(dramatic music)
(laughter)
(baby-ish music)
(Try Guys babbling)
- You weady, judges?
(all): Yes!
- Wee!
- Wee.
- Wee!
(deep voice): Wee.
(swimmers giggling)
(electronic music)
(giggling)
(Anita): Oh!
Oh, nice, nice!
(clapping)
(laughter)
(music crescendo)
(swimmers): Yeah!
(cheering and applause)
- You were so good! - Ah.
- You were so good.
(cheering)
- Olympics!
- We did it!
(cheering)
(swimmer): Yeah!
That was really good!
- Uh! (Ned): Alright! Yeah!
- Moment of truth!
(breathlessly): How did we do?
- Alright, we're gonna score you
a bit differently than we do in the Olympics.
We're each gonna give you an individual score out of 10
and then, combine them. (Try Guys): Wow!
- And remember, you know, we try stuff for a living,
so don't go easy on us.
But we're also babies.
(chuckling) (Eugene): They know, they saw.
(chuckling)
- Show us those scores in five, six, seven, eight!
- Five, that's excellent!
(Try Guys): Six!
Seven! Six!
Nine! Wow!
Nine! Six! Five! Eight!
Six! Seven!
(screaming)
(Zach): Seventy-three!
(Keith): Holy cow! (yelling)
- Yes! - We got a 73?!
- That is unheard of!
Real quick, could you hold your score up real high?
(Ned and Zach): Yeah!
(Try Guys): Oh...
- So, what would a winning score normally be?
- Uh, usually, upper nineties.
- Upper nineties?
So 73 for a first time... (Zach): Pretty good!
- Seventy-three's pretty good!
- Hey, hey, hey, guys! That's... that's passing.
(Keith): Yeah...
- Well, thank you so much for teaching us.
It's pretty remarkable how impossibly hard this sport is
and just trying out for a day,
my respect has grown tenfold. (Eugene): Yeah.
(Ned): Yeah, this is way hard.
You guys are amazing 'cause you make it look so easy.
- You must have muscles for bones.
(chuckling)
Seriously, I could barely hold my body up right now.
(laughter)
(all): Thank you, Team USA!
(all): You're welcome, Try Guys!
- And now, we're gonna drown in unison.
Five, six, sev... eight.
(Keith and Ned grunting)
(laughter)
- I think our sport is so underappreciated
and for us to get to share it with the Try Guys today
and just to be able to get more exposure for our sport
is really exciting for us.
- The evidence of how bad we were at that today
shows you just how good and how impressive they are,
which means you've really got to tune in
to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games,
especially to watch artistic swimming.
It is not only beautiful,
but it is incredibly draining
and impressive what they're doing out there.
And I almost died today.
- But you didn't, Keith. - But I didn't.
Where is Ned? - Oh, he drowned.
(Keith and Ned): Oh.
- One of you want to be Ned?
- Yeah. (laughter)
(Eugene): Come on, get over here, New Ned.
- Go, go, go, go! - New Ned!
(all chanting): New Ned! New Ned! New...