There Were No Male Athletes [Paris Olympics]

Artistic Swimming Men’s Participation Allowed ‘0’
All 10 Countries Select Only Female Athletes for Team Events
“Buoyancy and Flexibility Issues Cause Male Athletes to Fall Behind”

The 2024 Paris Olympics is a stage for gender equality.

Bill May (center) and the US national team are performing in the artistic swimming team event at the 2023 Fukuoka World Championships.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed male athletes to participate in artistic swimming, which was previously a "men-forbidden" event, in December 2022. Artistic swimming is often called the "ballet of swimming." It was adopted as an official Olympic event at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Until now, only female athletes could compete, but with the IOC's decision, male athletes could have been seen at the Paris Olympics for the first time in 40 years.

However, no male athletes are competing at the Paris Olympics either. A total of 10 countries participated in the team event. None of the teams selected male athletes. The IOC allowed each country to enter two male athletes in the team event, but no one took the risk. On the 5th (local time), the American media CNN reported, "Among the 96 athletes participating in artistic swimming, there is not a single male athlete," adding, "Until the early 20th century, this event was mainly dominated by men, but later it became a female-dominated sport."

The media also explained the reason why men disappeared from the sport. CNN analyzed, "Due to physical characteristics, men tend to weigh more, resulting in lower buoyancy and relatively less flexibility, which makes leg extension movements difficult. Because of this background, male athletes naturally fell behind."

Of course, there are athletes who overcame these limitations. Bill May from the United States, regarded as a pioneer of male artistic swimming, won a gold medal at a major competition for the first time as a male athlete in the mixed event at the 2015 Kazan World Championships. He then became the leading figure in male artistic swimming until he retired after the 2019 Gwangju World Championships.

When the IOC allowed male athletes to participate in the Paris Olympics in 2022, May made a comeback at the age of 44 last year and contributed to winning a silver medal in the team event at the 2023 Fukuoka World Championships. Despite being in his mid-40s and not giving up on his dream of competing in the Paris Olympics, he was not included in the U.S. national team roster. There are very few male artistic swimming athletes in other countries as well. In Korea, Byeon Jae-jun, the son of popular singer Byeon Jin-seop, is active as the country's first male artistic swimming athlete.