This Olympic sport went co-ed. What happened to all the men?
Summary
Artistic swimming made a splash when it announced that men could compete at the Olympics. Then the Paris Games rolled around, and the vision of a mixed competition went down the drain.SAINT-DENIS, France—Before there was a furor over the eligibility of a pair of female boxers, the biggest gender controversy at these Olympics was in artistic swimming.
Except this problem wasn’t about the athletes in the pool. It was about the men who had been left standing on the deck, waiting for their chance to dive in.
Artistic swimming, the sport formerly known as synchronized swimming, made waves two years ago by announcing it would allow men to compete in the Games for the first time.
World Aquatics heralded the news as “a day of celebration." Bill May, an American artistic swimmer who has spent decades crusading for a place for male athletes on the sport’s biggest stages, viewed the decision as the culmination of his life’s work.
“Never, ever, ever, until the day I die–I’ll never forget getting that call," May said.
But now the Paris Olympics have arrived, and the brave new world of artistic swimming looks a lot like the old one. None of the countries at the Games has actually put a man on a team. The vision of a gender-integrated competition in Paris has evaporated. World Aquatics released a sheepish statement saying that the organization was “very disappointed."
“This should have been a landmark moment for the sport," the statement said.
May, now 45-years-old, had made an extraordinary comeback to try to compete in Paris. He had been on the U.S. team that qualified for a spot at the Olympics in February. He was feted at a multi-day Team USA press conference in April, his legs bouncing in excitement as he sat on the stage.
But when the U.S. finalized its roster in June, May didn’t make the cut.
“I feel like this has been a missed opportunity to finally allow men into the sport and then not have any men there," May said.
Instead, May was pool-side at these Olympics, ceremonially opening the team free routine segment of the competition on Tuesday. He was introduced to wild applause.
Long mocked for its water ballet origins, artistic swimming has sought to emphasize its athleticism and rigor by rebranding itself away from its “synchronized" roots. One way has been to abandon its rigid all-female criteria, leaving rhythmic gymnastics as the last remaining women-only Olympic sport.
The thinking is that the addition of men will result in more high-flying acrobatic feats, attracting new fans.
The sport has a handful of boys and men like May who have trained up to the elite level despite the barriers to competing internationally. The world championships first admitted men for a newly created mixed duet category in 2015. The Olympics went another route, permitting countries to put two male athletes on the eight-person roster for the team competition for 2024.
Team USA coach Andrea Fuentes said, “There has not been enough time" to fully integrate men on teams. World Aquatics says that it is “absolutely determined that there will be male artistic swimmers in the team competition" at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
But it might not be so easy. The two men long seen as the likeliest candidates to reach the Olympics–May and Italy’s Giorgio Minsini–have both retired after missing out on Paris.
Minisini, 28-years-old, was inspired to take up artistic swimming as a child after he saw May perform at an event in Rome. When he grew older, he noticed that whenever May stepped out of the pool, women rushed to take pictures with him. That’s when he knew the sport was for him.
As time passed, Minisini became more serious about artistic swimming, ultimately joining May as a prominent male athlete pushing for inclusion. He stepped away from the sport after he failed to make the Italian team for the Games. What gives him hope is that the male swimmers coming up behind him may be able to do what he could not.
“One matter is to not be able to reach your goals," Minisini said. “Another matter is to not be allowed to reach your goals."
The artistic swimming world believes there are men ready to take up May and Minisini’s mantle. Kazakhstan, Spain, Japan and the U.S. are among the countries who have successfully begun to increase the men in their ranks. USA Artistic Swimming CEO Adam Andrasko said the country has three male athletes between the ages of 13 and 19 who are at a “high, high level."
It gives May confidence that, even though it won’t be him, he won’t be waiting much longer to see a man competing in the Olympics.
“I don’t have that medal or Olympic experience," May said, “but no one’s guaranteed that."
Write to Jared Diamond at jared.diamond@wsj.com and Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com
