Artistic swimming will continue to be a female-only sport at the Paris Olympics despite a historic change to allow male athletes to compete.
The 2024 aquatic event, formerly known as ‘synchronized swimming’, had hoped to be the first non-gender-biased edition of the Games.
A landmark ruling from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) two years ago allowed males to compete in artistic swimming.
However, the 18 nations in the two synchro events at the Olympics have sent a combined 96 athletes to Paris – all of whom were women.
Why are no men competing in artistic swimming?
Put simply, because none were chosen.
Artistic swimming, which debuted at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, was a women-only discipline at the Olympics until December 2022.
Since 2015, male athletes can compete in artistic swimming at the World Championships yet Paris was poised to be their Games debut.
World Aquatics changed this year’s rules to allow, but not require, up to two men being picked in the eight-strong team event.
Four-time world gold medalist Giorgio Minisini and American Bill May were tipped to as likely Olympic pioneers, but neither were selected.
“World Aquatics is very disappointed that no male artistic swimmers have been selected for Paris 2024”, a federation statement read.
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“This should have been a landmark moment for the sport.
“We understand that it would always be a challenge for men to earn a spot on a team in time for Paris 2024, considering that their eligibility was only confirmed 18 months ago, but we were still hopeful that some would succeed.”
USA star May was the first-ever male world champion in the inaugural mixed duet technical event in 2015 and came out of competitive retirement for a chance to qualify for the Olympics.
Italian Minisini announced on Instagram he was retiring after being snubbed by his country, writing, ‘Obsession is a young man’s game.’
