Swimming Pretty

£16.99

The Vikki Orvice Award for Women’s Sports Writing: Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water by Vicki Valosik

 

A ground-breaking history of how women found synchronicity-and power-in water

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Description

Since the nineteenth century, tensions between beauty and strength, aesthetics and athleticism have both impeded and propelled the careers of female swimmers-none more so than synchronised swimmers. In this deeply researched history, Vicki Valosik traces a century of aquatic performance for the first time, from Victorian variety theatre and carnival shows to the 1984 elevation of synchronised swimming to Olympic status. Writing in eloquent prose, Valosik shows how early starlets like Lurline the Water Queen and Annette Kellerman boldly challenged restrictive codes set for women in water; more than just bathing beauties, they influenced lifesaving and physical-education programmes, dropped drowning rates and paved the way for new generations of female swimming athletes. Brimming with reverence and mesmerising detail, Swimming Pretty finally foregrounds an essential sport.

Now, on the fortieth anniversary of synchronised swimming’s elevation to Olympic status, Swimming Pretty honours its incredible history of grit, glamour and sheer athleticism.

Additional information

Dimensions 21 × 14 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

432

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

797.21082 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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