A beginner's guide to Olympic artistic swimming

SAINT-DENIS, France — Here's a quick guide to artistic swimming at the Paris Olympics.

Why aren’t men competing in artistic swimming for the 2024 Olympics?

Men were eligible to compete in the team event for the first time in this Olympics, but no men were selected for any of the eight-member teams. Men have been allowed to participate for several years at the lower levels of the sport.

Swimming's world governing body, World Aquatics, has said it was disappointed no men were picked as the sport seeks to broaden its appeal.

What countries are favored to win in Paris?

Russian athletes have won all of the gold medals beginning with the 2000 Sydney Olympics — 12 gold medals. Russian athletes are not competing in artistic this time. There are only a handful of Russians competing in Paris because of Russia’s war on Ukraine, none under the Russian flag. So the field is wide open, with China likely the favorites.

Is artistic swimming the same as synchronized swimming?

The sport was known for a long time as synchronized swimming but the name was changed in 2017 to artistic swimming to give it a wider appeal. The name hasn’t completely caught on yet, and swimmers often still call it “synchro.”

How else has artistic swimming changed over the years?

The sport has become much more physical, notably in the team acrobatic routines. Breath control and endurance are necessary and more athleticism has entered into the sport. The tricks are now more risky, the throws are higher — and with more tricks and higher throws there are more bruises and a greater risk for concussions.

Swimmers are not allowed to touch the bottom of the pool and they are deducted points of they do.

Despite all the changes, the gelatin-thick hair and makeup are still prominent, and so are the smiles when swimmers surface from their underwater work.

How does scoring work for artistic swimming?

Judges award points for technical merit and artistic impression. The highest and lowest scores are removed and the others are averaged. Technical merit is broken down into execution, synchronization, and difficulty. Artistic impression involves musical interpretations, choreography, and presentation.

How can I watch artistic swimming at the Olympics?

Artistic swimming runs Aug. 5-10 beginning at 5:30 p.m. CEST (11:30 a.m. EDT) each day. The team medal will be awarded on Aug. 7. The duet final is Aug. 10. All of them will be available in the U.S. on Peacock, NBC's streaming platform.