Champion Synchronized Swimmers Try to Do Routine Drunk

What happens what you throw Stockholm's three-time world champion men's synchronized swimming team into a pool after feeding members shots? A whole lot of splashing and not much swimming, apparently. The experiment—yes, experiment—was part of a "Don't Drink and Dive" water safety campaign from insurance firm Trygg-Hansa, which set out to record the effects of alcohol on intoxicated, middle-aged men who go for a dip, reports UPI. A video of the stunt, posted to YouTube, shows even the most skilled swimmers have trouble. After downing shots and booze shot from squirt guns, the team took breath tests to make sure they were totally hammered—one man's level hit 1.82 promille, or a BAC of 0.182—then jumped in the water and attempted to perform a winning routine.

It wasn't all that graceful. Some of the swimmers could hardly stay afloat. The organizers, who note lifeguards and a rescue diver were on hand, hoped to highlight a 10-year high for drowning deaths in Sweden; 137 people drowned in 2014, more than the number killed in car accidents, reports Quartz. Some 85% were men and 60% had consumed alcohol, reports the Local. The video adds that middle-aged men are the highest risk group for drowning deaths linked to alcohol. "No one was close to drowning, but some of them needed help to get up from the pool," a Trygg-Hansa rep says of the swim team. That's something "people don't always get when they are out swimming on their own." As boozing and swimming are popular among Swedes in summer, a Swedish Life Saving Society rep says the video "can save lives." (The WHO says someone drowns every 90 seconds.)