Artistic Swimming

A spectacular show in Oswiecim

The impressive routines of 170 top European swimmers will take place at the Olympic-sized swimming pool of the Aquatics Centre in Oswiecim at Chemikow 2 Street. The pool’s size is 50x20m and a depth is 2.30m to 3.80m – so it is perfectly suited for this type of competition. They will last for five days: from June 22 to 26, and the competitions will also have a status of the European Championships and Olympic Games qualification. Eight sets of medals of European Games will be given to the best. It is hard to imagine a better opportunity to spread popularity of this unique passion in our country, and inspire the next generation of young people.

From women’s power to gender equality: the history of the sport

A spectacular combination of swimming, dance and gymnastics performed by 200 of the best athletes from across Europe will be on display in June. It is no coincidence that artistic swimming (called synchronized swimming until 2017) is referred to as water ballet. Choreographies and figures presented in the pool by teams of swimmers can leave the audience in awe. Artistic level matches the sporting one. The discipline requires female athletes to have masterful technique, very good muscle stretching, strength, endurance and grace.

Although today the sport is considered typically female, its origins are associated with competitions where only men could take part – the first synchronized swimming competition was held in 1980 in Berlin. Everything changed, when in the 1920s the discipline was developed by the Canadian women’s water polo team, along with diver Margaret Sellers. Synchronized swimming, in the women’s version, was presented at the 1952 Olympic Games, and the first world championships were held in Belgrade in 1973.

Since 1984 it has been an official Olympic discipline – one of the few in which only women could participate. However, a real breakthrough is ahead of us – the principle of equality in sports has also reached this discipline. World Aquatics (formerly FINA) has decided that men will also be allowed to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris for the first time ever. Interestingly, men have been competing in the synchronized swimming world championships since 2015.

Each artistic swimming team has eight male athletes. From now on, a maximum of two men will be allowed to join a team competing in the Games. A total of ten teams are expected to take part in the Paris tournament, so we can expect 20 male representatives.