Men to compete in artistic swimming at Olympics for first time

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer

FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — Men will compete in artistic swimming at next year’s Paris Olympics. Men have competed at the lower levels in a sport formerly known as synchronized swimming. But next year for the first time they will have the Olympic stage. American artistic swimmer Bill May says “there has always been that misconception that it’s a female-only sport, or that it’s for wimps, or that it’s not a difficult sport.” This is not the synchronized swimming that your parents or grandparents watched. The acrobatic team event is physical with flips and throws and swimmers diving off the shoulders of teammates below.