U.S. show off dancing skills in spoof video

(L to R) Members of U.S. national Olympic swimming team Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps attend a news conference after a training session for the London 2012 Olympics, in Bellerive, July 21, 2012.

LONDON (Reuters) - It's not all hard work and no play for the U.S. swimming team at the London Olympics.

A light-hearted, spoof video filmed by the team during training has gone viral on the internet with tens of thousands of viewers clicking to watch top names such as Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin dancing and lip-syncing to hit "Call me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.

The video, billed by the team as an attempt to "blow off steam" in the run up to the Games, features swimmers dancing down the aisle of a plane, waving arms around on a bus and even strutting their stuff under water.

Lochte, a favourite with female swimming fans, smooches at the camera.

"This is one of the best teams I've had the opportunity to be a part of! We are having so much fun!" Franklin tweeted as she sent out a link to the video (bit.ly/Mac9yW).

USA Swimming said the project was led by swimmers Alyssa Anderson, Kathleen Hersey and Caitlin Leverenz and later finished off by a member of the U.S. team's staff, Russell Mark.

"USA Swimming's "Call Me Maybe" proves two things: 1. Swimmers are funny. 2. Taper makes you stir crazy," tweeted swimming journalist Mike Gustafson, referring to the reduction of swimmers' workloads just before a competition.

Other parodies of the much spoofed song include one from Harvard's baseball team, a women's college rowing team and even Sesame Street's Cookie Monster.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques, editing by Mark Meadows)