Barred from wearing suits that made them look like waterproof Christmas trees, the Spanish team took a different tack.

Gangsta.

They marched onto the deck at the Water Cube in costumes embroidered with a menacing cartoon character across the front and back, his cap backward and carrying a stick in a threatening manner.

Somewhere, Martin Short is smiling.

This is synchronized swimming, a sport that requires as much strength, stamina and skill as any in Beijing — but still draws snickers from those who believe the gelled-up hair, caked-on makeup and outlandish suits are better suited for a Vegas show than an Olympic pool.

A hilarious “Saturday Night Live” bit from 1984 is usually a convenient starting point for any discussion with the uninformed. Adorned with noseclips, Short and Harry Shearer played brothers who dream of being the first males to compete at the Olympics in synchronized swimming.

Never mind that Short has to wear a lifejacket because “I’m not that strong a swimmer.”

“You would be surprised,” said Andrea Nott, who competes for the United States in both the team and duet events — and, no, she doesn’t wear a flotation device. “That was more than 20 years ago and people still say, ’Hey, I saw the ’Saturday Night Live’ skit.”

Her response?

“We do it because we love it and there’s enough satisfaction in it for us,” Nott said. “If some people think it’s dorky, well, they don’t have to watch it.”

Judging from the packed stands at the Water Cube this week, plenty of people enjoy a sport that combines the artistry of a ballet with the athleticism of an acrobat show, all in the water. These are true athletes, practicing up to 10 hours a day, six days a week to coordinate the intricate moves and build up enough lung capacity to perform strenuous underwater techniques, often upside down, while holding their breath.

“There’s something about the breath holding that makes the lactate acid come on a little sooner,” Nott said after a duet routine that lasted nearly four minutes. “By 30 seconds into the piece, we’re burning.”

American coach Tammy McGregor, a gold medalist in Atlanta, said many misconceptions about the sport originate in her own country, even though the U.S. was a powerhouse when synchro swimming was added to the Olympics at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Winning gold didn’t reduce the ridicule.

“Our country is very focused on football, basketball and baseball,” McGregor said. “When we go to Japan, people go nuts for synchro. A venue like this one here would be sold out wall-to-wall for the world championships. When we go to Europe, it’s the same way. It’s really only the Americas” where people seem hung up on the is-it-a-sport-or-not debate.