USA synchronized swimming routine: Underwater moonwalk, Michael Jackson tribute captures attention at 2024 Olympics

Jacob Camenker

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USA synchronized swimming routine: Underwater moonwalk, Michael Jackson tribute captures attention at 2024 Olympics image

The USA's synchronized swimming team is pulling out all the stops as it looks to medal in artistic swimming at the 2024 Olympics.

That includes breaking out an underwater rendition of a dance move that has been around for decades: the moonwalk.

The moonwalk is a move with which some amateur dancers struggle, but USA's artistic swimming team has found a way to perfect an incredibly difficult version of it in the pool.

Here's what to know about the underwater moonwalk and how the United States incorporated it into their Olympic swimming routine.

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USA synchronized swimming routine

The USA's synchronized swimming routine at the Olympics is a tribute to Michael Jackson, which is why the team has broken out the underwater moonwalk.

Jackson helped popularize the moonwalk during the 1983 TV "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever." He broke it out during his performance of "Billie Jean," and that turned the 50-plus-year-old move into a global phenomenon.

Team USA's routine is set to Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" instead of "Billie Jean," but the dance move works just as well.

To perform the underwater moonwalk, Team USA's eight synchronized swimmers flip upside down in the water. They have only their legs sticking straight out of the water and perform a couple of small kicks before breaking into the signature backward glide.

Executing the maneuver in sync is clearly challenging, especially since the swimmers aren't necessarily able to hear the music clearly underwater. Nonetheless, the United States has perfected it, which has led them to get plenty of praise from fans of the Olympics on social media.

Will this skill be enough for the United States to earn another medal in the pool? Only time will tell.

As it stands, they have impressed their opponents and countrymen alike with their ability to perform such a complex move all together.

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USA synchronized swimming moonwalk video

Below is a look at Team USA's full routine, including the underwater moonwalk.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.