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Against the Tide: Artistic Swimming in Egypt’s Cultural Landscape

August 4, 2024

Sequin swimsuits, gelatin, makeup, music, and dance—this is what artistic swimming is all about. Or is it? In Egypt, pursuing sports can be particularly challenging, especially for artistic swimming (more commonly known as synchronized swimming), which faces cultural barriers. In a society where it is uncommon for women to represent Egypt in swimsuits, the sport often lacks understanding and appreciation. Yasmine El Bakry, an artistic swimming judge, highlighted the difficulties female athletes face in Egypt. As they progress into university and adulthood, wearing swimsuits for the sport becomes increasingly socially unacceptable. “After going to university, female artistic swimmers quit the sport and resort to coaching for their love of the sport and because they wanted to continue playing the sport but couldn’t because their teammates had quit and it became unfavorable to wear swimsuits,” said El Bakry to this article’s author. “The coaches that are training now are all ex-athletes.” Being exposed means constantly being criticized; in a 2021 interview with Inside Synchro, two-time (and soon three-time) Olympic Champion Nihal Saafan shared her experiences as a long-time Egyptian artistic swimmer and the oldest in her team. “Before Rio [the 2016…


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