For 19-year-old Sunnyvale resident Sara Lowe and some of her closest friends, the story held a deeper significance.

"I thought 'Oh my god, this is so cool, I'm going to do this,'" Lowe said, reflecting on her role as one of the top synchronized swimmers in the world and a member of the U.S. squad aiming for the gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

For Lowe and her teammates, ranked third in the world behind second-place Japan and the first-place Russian team, the movie was one of their first tastes of the position they're in.

Not only are they emissaries for their country and an inspiration to thousands of younger athletes—they're also a close-knit band of friends who spend a minimum of eight hours a day together, at least six days a week. They push themselves to improve, in preparation for competition with teams that have beaten them in the past.

"We're not technically the best people in the world, but we have a lot of spirit," Lowe said.

Beyond hoping to bring home a gold medal, the team is trying to return the U.S. team's ranking to the top of the sport. At the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, the first time synchro was a medal sport, the U.S. team brought home the gold, but it only ranked fifth at the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia. This year, the team hopes to get back on the podium in front of the world.

That drive has given rise to the motto "The will to prepare for gold" that the team follows through practices in pools at San José State University and the Santa Clara International Swim Center.

Lowe's father, Dean, who moved to Sunnyvale with his family from the small Texas town of DeSoto, said his daughter and many of her teammates may not even realize their role in U.S. athletics, because they have been swimming at the international level for several years and have kept their easygoing attitude throughout.

"They forget the position they're in right now, because it's just been a natural progression," Dean Lowe said. "But the nation is looking at them as being the best of the best."

Odyssey to Greece

For Sara, the journey toward Greece started when she was 11, when her grandmother took her to swim in a lake outside her home in Texas. For five years after, with help from her mother—a former synchronized swimmer—Lowe was competing for a synchro club in Irving, Texas, rapidly improving beyond her team.

"I've always kind of known what I wanted to do," Lowe said, reflecting on how much time she's spent in pools during her life.

In August of 1999, her mother got job offers in Chicago and Palo Alto. After learning of the Santa Clara Aquamaids synchro team—a team that consistently produces Olympic athletes, including six of Lowe's teammates—she and her mother moved to Sunnyvale to take the next step in the journey.

"The team is by far the best in the nation, and it's also considered one of the best clubs in the world," Lowe said.

About a year later, her father and younger brother, Matthew, followed, and the family eventually settled in a pistachio-green house in Sunnyvale, close to both her practice pools and a number of her teammates.

Lowe swam with the Aquamaids for several years, the last five years competing at various levels for the U.S. National team as well. In May, she found out she was on the Olympic team, sooner than she ever thought she would be.

"There were so many people ahead of me, I just couldn't see it," Lowe said. At just 19, Lowe is the second youngest on the team. She had originally been planning on making the 2008 Olympic team.

Chris Carver, Lowe's coach in Santa Clara and for the Olympic team, said that because of her age, she could see Lowe in the next two—maybe even three—Olympic games. Lowe said she is unsure what will happen after Athens, although her next step is to enroll at Stanford University on a full athletic scholarship, possibly to study architecture or design.

Carver says Lowe stands out among her tribe of swimmers because she is always listening and paying attention to routines, which—coupled with strong technical skills—has made Lowe a favorite of Carver's to use when demonstrating techniques.

"I wouldn't say she's the chief, because she's so quiet," Carver said. "But she's the best Indian."

Regardless of her skill level, Lowe says her age makes her a frequent target for jokes.

"I'm always one of the youngest ones, so they just pick on me, but I can take it really well," Lowe said.

Lowe said she is frequently called one of several nicknames—including "Half-pint" and "Bear"—by her teammates and coaches, even when being asked to demonstrate difficult moves. Her coach even calls her forward by shouting "Send in the clowns."

"She just is a very engaging person, she's very focused, but she has a sense of humor," Carver said. "She seems to enjoy what she's doing, which makes me enjoy coaching her."

Coconut bras and athletic supporters

The will to make the team has always been there for Lowe, and it has dominated much of the last eight years of her life.

"She is an outstanding individual," Carver says. "And I think her parents have a lot to do with that."

Lowe's parents devote much of their life to supporting their children's endeavors. They travel with the team, run bingo games to raise money and provide homemade guacamole for team parties.

"That's the responsibility of a parent," her father said. "No matter what your kid does, you have to support it."

Since the eighth grade, Lowe has been home-schooled by her mother so her education would not impede her swimming. The family even had a satellite dish installed in the backyard so classes on television could be taped for after-practice studying. For a time, while Lowe and her mother were in California and her brother, father and satellite dish were in Texas while her brother worked to complete his Eagle Scout ranking, her father sent tapes each week to Lowe so she could continue her studies.

In addition to supporting Lowe's studies, her family has put in long hours helping the Aquamaids club raise money, through bingo games and other fundraising events.

Her father even left his position as a banker to start his own detailing company so he'd have a flexible schedule to attend synchro events and travel with his family.

But family support does not end on dry land. Her father is also actively involved in the "AquaPops," an elite team of swimmers' dads who occasionally don coconut bras, fishnet pantyhose or tutus to entertain crowds at swimming exhibitions.

"That's the support right there," Lowe said with a laugh, noting that what her dad's squad lacks in grace and style, they more than make up for in enthusiasm.

Her younger brother, Matthew—who is a swimmer, water-polo player, wrestler and football player—helps her by working out with her at night, often going jogging at a nearby gym.

"Without that support system, I don't think this is really do-able," Lowe said.

A team in sync

For Lowe—and her teammates—the person next to them in the pool is their friend, training partner, sister and in some cases, former opponent. Because the Olympic team draws the best swimmers from around the country, swimmers who once competed against each other for their respective clubs are now relying on each other in international competitions.

"I could not name 10 people at this time who are that close of friends with me," Dean Lowe said.

Because the team's members spend so much time together, however, the team has coalesced stronger even than the gels they put in their hair to keep it in place during routines.

Close friendships are important in the sport because competitions and practice take up so much of their lives.

"I know everyone on the team so well because I see them all the time," Lowe said. "It's like having nine sisters."

She laughs because she says she goes through everything with her teammates, and after swimming with them for eight hours, she often rushes home to gossip with them about things they couldn't talk about during practice.

"It's a good group," Carver said. "As much as we practice, if you didn't have that, you couldn't do it."

In addition, the opportunity to travel around the world—primarily in Europe—has given Lowe a chance to meet people from all over the globe. She still keeps in contact with many of them.

"Sara doesn't have many friends next door, but she has them in the next country," her father says.

In addition to the people she swims with and meets during competitions, Lowe has had the chance to mentor younger swimmers coming up through the Aquamaids and U.S. National programs.

Lowe laughs when she thinks about how cheesy she must sound when giving motivational advice to younger swimmers about pushing herself, dedicating her life to a goal and striving for gold.

"If you know that's what you want to do, I think it's totally worth it," Lowe said. "I would do it all over again."