Dangerous CO2 levels. Unflavored gelatin. Benjamin Franklin in a river.
This story examines a sport you might have ignored or joked about. But some facets of synchronized swimming – now called “artistic” swimming – could change your mind. @usaartswimming
The prevailing image of synchronized, or artistic, swimming changed in an instant last summer.
Anita Alvarez pushed too hard at the worlds, passed out and sank to the bottom. She now wonders if people look at her sport and see “how difficult it is.” latimes.com/sports/olympic…
Synchronized swimming is like gymnastics. Upside-down. Underwater.
How do they hold their breath? By relaxing their face muscles & pressing their tongue against the roof of their mouth. @TeamUSAlatimes.com/sports/olympic…
And what about the makeup artistic swimmers wear? There’s a logic to it. They get scored on artistic impression, so judges need to see the difference between a smile and a grimace from 30 feet away. @fina1908latimes.com/sports/olympic…
Synchronized swimming has a history dating back to Ben Franklin, an early practitioner. latimes.com/sports/olympic…
There’s science, too, because swimmers sometimes pass out in the pool. Experts say “shallow water blackout” involves a tricky oxygen and CO2 balance that can turn dangerous. @AquaticSafetyGrlatimes.com/sports/olympic…
Southern California has a connection with synchronized/artistic swimming. Esther Williams movies from the 1940s helped develop a devoted fanbase and the '84 L.A. Olympics added the sport to the program. Now, the U.S. team trains at #UCLA for sunny weather. latimes.com/sports/olympic…
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Just like last winter, the @Dodgers are giving Clayton Kershaw time to contemplate his future. On Thursday they declined to extend a qualifying offer for the second consecutive offseason. latimes.com/sports/dodgers…
Clayton Kershaw would rather retire than break down again. Except he believes he won’t.
He'd rather walk away than be reduced to mediocrity. Except he believes that won’t happen.
In September, Kershaw said he didn’t yet know if he'd return to the @Dodgers for a 16th year or move elsewhere.
He entertained an offer from the @Rangers before this season and could revisit the possibility of playing for his hometown team in the winter. latimes.com/sports/dodgers…
New: The Los Angeles mayor’s race has grown tighter, with businessman Rick Caruso now ahead of U.S. Rep. Karen Bass by just 2,695 votes, down from his 12,282-vote advantage a day earlier, according to new vote totals released Thursday afternoon.
That gave Caruso 50.25% of the vote to Bass’ 49.75%.
Going into the day, Caruso held a 2.5-percentage-point lead in the race to succeed Mayor Eric Garcetti, with about 500,000 votes counted. latimes.com/california/sto…
Roughly 545,000 votes have been counted in the mayor’s race, according to Thursday’s update. It is unclear how many uncounted votes remain, since ballots postmarked by election day are still arriving. latimes.com/california/sto…
This is a story about @VeraDrew22’s fight to #FreeThePeoplesJoker: Hours before the film envisioning the Joker as a transgender woman trying to break into comedy was set to premiere, Warner Bros. Discovery objected to it as copyright infringement. latimes.com/entertainment-…
“They would be able to keep me in litigation forever because they’re a billion-dollar media conglomerate and I’m a broke trans woman,” she said of the letter WBD sent just before the film held its first screening. latimes.com/entertainment-…
So what is “The People’s Joker”? It’s been billed as “the world’s first impressionist superhero/queer art film” and was made with the help of hundreds of contributing artists all over the world during the pandemic. latimes.com/entertainment-…
For more than an hour, a suspect led police on a dangerous pursuit, twice stealing vehicles, hitting multiple cars and ramming into at least two police cruisers. latimes.com/california/sto…
Officers saw the driver of a black Honda Civic commit traffic violations near Auto Center Drive and the 5 Freeway in Fullerton.
The man sped off and police followed him into Anaheim, where he got on and off the 91 Freeway at least once. latimes.com/california/sto…
California’s shift to mail-in balloting means that voting begins weeks before election day and tabulation continues for weeks after, meaning results can remain murky in all but the most lopsided races immediately following an election.
Vote-by-mail ballots take longer to process, particularly when a massive number of them arrive all at once on election day, officials and experts said Wednesday. latimes.com/california/sto…
That makes the entire tabulation process lengthier, with less immediate certainty about how many ballots remain or whether the later tranches will look substantially different. latimes.com/california/sto…
When Joseph Chahayed immigrated to Los Angeles from Syria in 1980, he envisioned a better life and a brighter future for his family.
His family said he has worked tirelessly toward that dream for decades — and on Tuesday, he finally received some well-earned recognition.
Joseph Chahayed's Altadena gas station was awarded $1 million for selling the winning $2-billion Powerball ticket. Under California’s rules, the retailer that sells the winning ticket earns 0.5% share of the jackpot, with the reward capped at $1M.
Chahayed’s unassuming gas station and small convenience store, known as Joe’s Mobile Service, sold the nation’s only matching ticket for the record-breaking Powerball jackpot, which amassed to $2.04 billion by the time of the drawing early Tuesday.