The artistic swimming competition begins today at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with one major change compared with previous games: Men are allowed to compete for the first time.
Under rule changes announced by the International Olympic Committee in December 2022, a maximum of two men can form part of the eight-athlete team event, but not the two-athlete duet event.
However, not even the most eagle-eyed observer would spot this change, as not a single man has been selected among the 96 athletes from 18 countries set to battle it out in the pool.
Artistic swimming, known as synchronized swimming before a name change in 2017, has a long and complicated history when it comes to male participation.
The sport was popularized in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, and in its early years, men played an established role.
However, male competitors were later seen to be at odds with the sport due to certain physical characteristics: They were heavier, less flexible – finding leg extensions more difficult – and less buoyant than their female counterparts.
When artistic swimming was first added to the Olympics in 1984, only women were allowed to compete. And this is how it remained for 40 years – until now.
One American swimmer, 45-year-old Bill May, had hoped his Olympic dream would finally be realized in Paris, but he was not ultimately selected for the Team USA squad announced in June.
The eight women who were selected will also be taking part in a new event – an acrobatic routine – which has been added to this year’s program alongside technical and free routines.
Another change is an updated scoring system, which assigns scores based on execution
and artistic impression.
Coaches must hand over a card with details of the routine, in order for judges to assign a difficulty score. If the routine doesn’t match the card, or includes an error, the athletes will be marked down.
There are a total six medals up for grabs, with China among the favorites to take gold in both duet and team events after emerging as a “dominant force” in recent years, according to the Olympics website.
Japan, the US, Spain and Ukraine are also named as teams to watch, while Mexico will make its artistic swimming Olympic debut.
The competition will run from August 5 to August 10, with medal days on August 7 for the team competition and August 10 for the duets.
