Watch Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Win a Gold Medal for the Spanish Synchronized Swimming Team

Rare is the rock fan who hasn't heard Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" more times than he or she can count. But even if you lunge for the radio dial as soon as you hear the song's first few notes, you might find yourself gaining a new appreciation for it while you watch this routine from the Spanish Synchronized Swimming Team.

The San Francisco Globe reports that this footage, filmed at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, earned the team its first international gold medal — and once you see it, it's easy to understand why.

Hard rock and synchronized swimming probably sound like a strange combination, and historically, that's definitely tended to be the case; in recent years, however, a growing number of athletes have turned to the louder side of the musical spectrum when selecting soundtracks for their competition routines. In 2011, Canadian duo Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon and Elise Marcotte made headlines when they swam to Metallica; the following year, Australia's national team gained attention of its own when they debuted a routine set to the strains of AC/DC. In 2013, Russian swimmers Svetlana Romashina and Svetlana Kolesnichenko won a gold medal for their own Metallica-driven routine.

Led Zeppelin fans may recall that this isn't the band's only brush with a major sports competition: Guitarist Jimmy Page performed their classic "Whole Lotta Love" with singer Leona Lewis at the 2008 Olympics closing ceremony, an experience he later deemed the highlight of his post-Zeppelin career.

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