Rio Olympics Synchronized Swimmers Can Thank Michigan Woman

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI — One of the often overlooked events of the Summer Olympics was actually pioneered and introduced to the world stage by a Michigan native more than 50 years ago.

Often scrutinized on its fit in the world of sports, synchronized swimming made its Olympic debut in 1964, but before that, it was little more than a bit player in movies.

“Back then, it was considered an art form ... something you saw in the movies with Esther Williams,” sporting pioneer Frances Jones told The Birmingham Eccentric. “The Olympics wanted nothing to do with an art form, so we had to kill that Hollywood art form and create a sport.”

Preliminaries in the synchronized swimming competition are going on now at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Jones, 91, who is a product of the Great Depression and a woman of demonstrated talent in music, learned to swim in Thornapple Lake outside of Grand Rapids when she was a child, but it was many years later, while teaching swim classes as the YWCA in the early 1950s that she learned about synchronized swimming.

“I had a class of girls I taught swimming for four years and I didn’t know what else I could teach them,” she said. “I read in the paper that the junior national synchronized swimming duet championships were being held in Detroit, so I went to see what that was about.”

Jones was hooked.

She approached the YWCA director about adding the program to her weekly schedule, but her request was denied.

In those days, competition among young girls was discouraged, but Jones had other ideas. After discussing the idea with her husband, she left the YWCA and formed her own organization.

Jones toured the state to recruit young swimmers to the fledgling club.

She secured leases for three pools, and before long, had her inaugural team of high school swimmers she’d ultimately choreograph into a synchronized swimming team.

Initial training and choreography was conducted on a stage.

“That way they could see each other,” she told the Bloomfield Eccentric. “They could see who was fast and who was slow ... and I could see what they were doing, so I could easily correct them.”

Before long, people would begin to hear about the Lansing Sea Sprites.

In 1958-59, two of Jones’ swimmers, Sandy Giltner and Judy Haga, were U.S. Solo and Duet champions.

As the Summer Olympics were winding down in Rome in 1960, Jones and her team led a promotional tour that caught the attention of other countries.

She began helping choreograph other teams, and trained judges to identify required movements of synchronized swimming.

The day after the games ended in Rome, Jones and her team provided a synchronized swimming demonstration for the Olympic steering committee, and returned home to compete nationally.

In 1964, Jones and her team embarked on a world tour with stops in 21 countries, that included a performance at the Crystal Palace for British royalty, and ended in Tokyo at the 1964 Summer Olympic games.

Despite her efforts, Synchronized Swimming wouldn’t be officially recognized until the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

Times have changed since the start of Jones’ quest so many years ago.

In 2008, her husband and best friend of nearly 60 years, died, and Jones, who’d lived in Orchard lake since 1965, returned to Bloomfield Township, where she currently resides at Samaritas Senior Living.

Although a quick run around her building is typically in order, Jones says she has been particularly interested in the 2016 Olympics and has hardly missed an event. She is especially interested in seeing how this year’s Synchronized Swim team performs when they hit the water on Aug. 18-19.

“This time, we have much better competition,” she told The Eccentric. “I’m wondering if China is going to beat us, but I don’t know. I still think our team can win it all.”

Screenshot: YouTube video of synchronized swimming.