At the Paris Olympics, synchronized swimming opened its doors to men for the first time, but the results were shocking. It's amazing that none of the male athletes made the cut.
In this country full of romance, France always has something to offer everyone. At Paris 2024, synchronized swimming opened its doors to male athletes for the first time. Imagine a group of muscular men dancing in the pool, isn't this picture a little too beautiful to see? (no ambiguity ha)
The reality is always more skinny than imagined, and this Olympic Games, which were hailed as the first time to achieve full gender equality, did not have a single male selection. All of the 96 Olympic synchronized swimmers are women. To paraphrase a familiar phrase, one can't help but ask: is this a manifestation of gender equality, or is it a "sexism" in synchronized swimming?
Four-time world gold medalist George · Minisini, who signed up for synchronized swimming at this Olympics. He announced on Instagram that the Italy Championship will be the last match he will play. The athlete, who had been full of hopes for the Olympic Games, eventually withdrew due to his exclusion from the Italy Olympic team due to his participation in the event. He said at a press conference that he would rather be "afraid of uncertainty than bear the certainty of misfortune".
The story of Minisini may be just the tip of the iceberg. "I really want to go to the Olympics, I want to go so badly, and I'm willing to continue doing this activity that no longer gives me any fun," Minisini said. His words revealed a kind of helplessness and disappointment, as if he saw the future of synchronized swimming, but he couldn't touch it.
Synchronized swimming, a sport that made its Olympic debut in 1984, was previously only open to women. Since 2015, men have been allowed to compete in this event at the World Swimming Championships. When the World Aquatics Federation announced in 2022 that men would be allowed to compete in synchronized swimming at the Paris Olympics, it did not seem to have received the expected response. It is almost impossible to train an Olympic-level athlete in two years, which is a big reason why the men were not selected for synchronized swimming at this Olympics.
The 96 Olympians, all of whom are women, raise the question: Is synchronized swimming really ready for male athletes? In a statement in June, the World Aquatics Association said: "This was supposed to be a milestone moment for the sport. "Reality gave them a resounding slap in the face.
A veteran of synchronized swimming, points out the challenges of the sport. Synchronized swimming is an aesthetically important sport in which athletes usually wear the same swimsuit, comb their hair into the same hairstyle, and paint their mouths all over with lipstick of the same color to hold their breath. This extreme pursuit of aesthetics may also be one of the reasons for the decision not to let men join the team. What's the matter with being shirtless, it's not elegant at all.
But Morgan of the Canada Artistic Swimming Team takes a different view, arguing that while the inclusion of men in the team changes the choreography, the results do not affect the aesthetics. "It's just different. It's acceptable to be different. The difference is healthy, and this change can be a good thing for the sport. ”
In synchronized swimming at the Paris Olympics, allowing men to compete may be just one attempt at gender equality. So far, the results have not been satisfactory, but it is at least a wake-up call that equality cannot be done for the sake of equality, and that there are some projects that are really only capable of women. Maybe there will be men in the future, but for now, drops are not allowed!