The Paris 2024 Olympics marks a historic moment in artistic swimming as the competition begins today, featuring a groundbreaking change: for the first time, men are permitted to compete.
According to the new rules introduced by the International Olympic Committee in December 2022, each eight-athlete team event can now include up to two men, though men are still excluded from the two-athlete duet event.
Despite this progressive change, no men have been selected to compete among the 96 athletes representing 18 countries.
Artistic swimming, which was known as synchronized swimming until its name change in 2017, has an intriguing history of male participation. In the early 20th century, the sport gained popularity in the United States, with men playing significant roles. However, they were later marginalized due to physical characteristics such as greater weight, lower flexibility, and reduced buoyancy compared to women, which made some elements of the sport more challenging for them.
When artistic swimming debuted in the Olympics in 1984, it was exclusively a women’s event, a status that remained for 40 years until now.
American swimmer Bill May, aged 45, had high hopes that his Olympic dream would finally be realized in Paris, but he was not selected for the Team USA squad announced in June. Instead, the eight women selected for the team will also perform a new acrobatic routine, which has been added to this year’s program alongside the traditional technical and free routines.
Additionally, the scoring system has been updated to award points based on execution and artistic impression. Coaches are now required to submit a detailed card outlining the routine, allowing judges to assess difficulty scores accurately. Any deviation from the card or errors during the performance will result in lower scores.
The Olympic website notes that six medals are at stake, with China being a dominant force and a strong favorite to clinch gold in both the duet and team events. Other top teams to watch include Japan, the USA, Spain, and Ukraine, while Mexico will be making its Olympic debut in artistic swimming.
The competition runs from August 5 to August 10, with medals awarded on August 7 for the team event and August 10 for the duet event.
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