Team USA Artistic Swimming’s Underwater Moonwalk Was Even Harder Than It Looked

One of the most wow-worthy moments of the Olympic Games in Paris came during one of Team USA Artistic Swimming’s performance. During the team technical routine round, Team USA artistic swimming competed with choreography set to the iconic song, “Smooth Criminal” from Michael Jackson, and they incorporated classic dance elements from the King of Pop himself — including his famous moonwalk.

That’s a hard enough move to pull off on dry land, but because the artistic swimming team was replicating it underwater, it was that much harder. Here, we break down exactly what went into creating Team USA’s now-famous underwater moonwalk, which helped them nab a silver medal — Team USA’s first in an artistic swimming event since 2004, according to NBC.

How Was the Underwater Moonwalk Executed?

To understand just how impressive the underwater moonwalk was (which you can see here, if you haven’t already), it can be helpful to have an understanding of the basics of artistic swimming (formerly called synchronized swimming; the name was changed after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio). In an interview with Business Insider, Team USA Artistic Swimming head coach Andrea Fuentes describes artistic swimming as a combination of gymnastics, swimming, dance, and water polo. The team has “the flyers,” or the athletes who are pushed into the air, and “the pushers,” who propel the flyers and other team-members. That may sound similar to cheerleading but remember: none of the team-members can touch the ground at any point during their performances, which mean the pushers are creating the explosive force needed for the flyers to launch out of the water while just treading water themselves.

As for the actual underwater moonwalk, Team USA artistic swimmer Nikki Dzurko broke down some of the behind-the-scenes work that went into the magical move in an Instagram video. To make sure each position is synchronized with the team, Coach Fuentes takes video from above the pool and the team relies on a Watlicam camera beneath the pool’s surface. Coach Fuentes reviews screenshots with everyone, showing a frame-by-frame view of the positions as a team, along with notes on how to improve the shapes or overall choreography.

In her video, Dzurko explains that for each count of the moonwalk, there’s an ideal position the swimmers are trying to achieve, including making a heel to toe alignment, knee to knee, or aiming for a precise angle with back knee. Since the synchronicity is part of what makes the moonwalk so visually stunning, Dzurko mentions that the team spent hours upon hours reviewing video and practicing to ensure their movements match one another.

In terms of scoring, Dzurko explains that the underwater movement is part of the hybrids family and relates to a scoring term of, “airborne weight, level 6” (per the Worlds Aquatics Difficulty Guide), where the body must have sustained height in the vertical position for more than three seconds.

Adding to the difficulty of the move is the fact that the swimmers had to move in time to the music (there are underwater speakers to help them hear the beat while submerged), while keeping their positions relative to one another, all without wearing goggles (although swimmers do wear nose clips to help prevent water backflow from entering their nostrils while swimming), and while holding their breath. Although the average human can hold their breath for 30 to 90 seconds, per the Business Insider interview, sometimes artistic swimmers are required to hold their breath for a whopping four to five minutes.

According to the Olympics website, artistic swimmers are evaluated on technical execution and artistic impression. Team China ultimately secured gold for both the team and duet routine, per Reuters. The duet was performed by Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi, twin sisters. Team USA can certainly be proud of their acrobatic routine, which was entitled “The Sorceresses” and contained themes of empowerment.

According to the broadcast from NBC on Peacock, the announcer mentioned that the team drew inspiration from the Michael Jackson ONE Cirque du Soleil theater show found at Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas. In an interview with Team USA Swimming, Coach Fuentes brought the whole team to watch the show for inspiration, and to learn the facial expressions and stances of Michael Jackson, moonwalk, and dance combinations from the cast.

Jade Esmeralda, MS, CSCS, is a Staff Writer, Health & Fitness. A life-long martial artist and dancer, Jade has a strong passion for strength & conditioning, sports science, and human performance. She graduated with a Master of Science degree in Exercise Science and Strength and Conditioning from George Washington University.