Synchronized swimming: Inside the scoring

(AP) If synchronized swimming looks easy to you, then the team in the pool is doing its job.

One of the criteria used to judge routines is how easy the swimmers make it look. The harder the routine, and the easier it looks, the bigger the score on a 100-point scale.

The sport is a combination of swimming, ballet and acrobatics that requires complex and sometimes frenetic movements underwater to make what happens above the water look so graceful.

The teams perform elaborate routines using skills like sculling (using your hands under water to get your body moving), lifting (when swimmers band together to propel a teammate out of the water) and the essential eggbeater kick (to tread water).

Routines are scored on technical merit and artistry. Judges look both at the presentation above the water and the techniques used under water to make it all happen.