This year, male athletes were eligible for the first time to compete in Olympic-level artistic swimming; however, none made the final cut for the competition in Paris. Despite major steps towards gender parity in the Olympic Games, the absence of men from the artistic swimming teams has sparked discussions around gender diversity within the sport.

Four-time world gold medallist Giorgio Minisini announced on Instagram that the Italian championships would mark his final competition following his exclusion from the Italian Olympic team earlier this year. Expressing his disappointment, Minisini emphasized the significance of the Olympics and the pursuit of gender inclusion within artistic swimming.

Although men have been permitted to compete in artistic swimming at lower levels and the World Aquatics Championships since 2015, the Paris Games had the potential to be a groundbreaking moment for the sport as male athletes were expected to feature in the competition. However, the 96 athletes selected from 18 countries for the Olympics are all women, raising concerns about missed opportunities for male athletes in artistic swimming.

The decision not to include men in the teams has led to mixed reactions on social media. While some sympathize with the challenges faced by male athletes in a predominantly female sport, others highlight the limited time since the announcement allowing men to participate in the sport at the Olympics and the dedication required to excel at an elite level in artistic swimming.

With the Games set to achieve numerical gender parity and continued discussions around gender inclusivity in sports, the absence of men on the artistic swimming teams in Paris underscores the complexities of diversifying traditionally gender-specific sports at the elite level.

As the artistic swimming competition unfolds at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the conversations sparked by the absence of male athletes on the teams shed light on the ongoing efforts to promote gender diversity and inclusivity in sports on the world stage.