Winning the first gold medal in the World Championships! Tianjin young man joins the "Women's Army" synchronized swimming because he looks better at China | World Championships | young man

On July 17th, 2023, the Fukuoka Swimming World Championships entered their fourth competition day. In the just concluded synchronized swimming group skills self selection final, the Chinese team performed an outstanding performance on a program with the theme of "Light of Life" and won the gold medal. This is also the first gold medal won by the Chinese synchronized swimming team at this World Championships.

At this year's World Championships, the Chinese team participating in the collective skill selection team is no longer the same "women's army". Among the eight person team, one "Hong Changqing" - a 21-year-old young man named Shi Haoyu added a lot of color to "water ballet".

On the 16th, Shi Haoyu and his partner won the bronze medal in mixed doubles technical selection.

In the synchronized swimming events of the Paris Olympics, a maximum of 2 male athletes will be allowed to participate in team events, and Shi Haoyu will become the first Chinese synchronized swimming male athlete to step onto the Olympic stage.

The "first person" in synchronized swimming

On July 16th, in the third day of the synchronized swimming competition, Shi Haoyu and Cheng Wentao performed an outstanding performance on the theme program "Unstoppable", winning the bronze medal in mixed doubles with 247.3033 points.

For the Chinese team, this is a particularly commendable achievement - on July 15th, Zhang Yiyao teamed up with Shi Haoyu to compete in the mixed doubles technical self selection preliminary round. Due to a mistake, the two of them temporarily ranked 7th. After the preliminaries, Zhang Yiyao suddenly suffered an injury and was unable to continue the game. The Chinese team had to substitute on the spot, and Shi Haoyu's mixed doubles free choice partner Cheng Wentao took over in the face of danger. Before the technical self selection final, this pair only had two water lessons.

In the Chinese flower tour team, 21-year-old Shi Haoyu is already an indispensable and absolute mainstay.

On December 22, last year, the International Swimming Federation announced that in the synchronized swimming event of the 2024 Paris Olympics, each team can allow up to 2 male athletes to participate in team events. This will be the first time in the history of male synchronized swimmers to be allowed to participate in the Olympics. At that time, each team of 8 players in the team competition can have a maximum of 2 male players. It is expected that 10 representative teams will participate in the Paris Olympics flower tour team technical and team free selection events.

Since synchronized swimming became an Olympic sport in 1984, it will be the first time that male synchronized swimmers are eligible to participate in the Olympics. The World Swimming Federation called this reform a milestone in the history of synchronized swimming, and water sports are rapidly developing towards inclusivity.

The young Tianjin boy Shi Haoyu is the "first person in China's flower tourism" to adapt to this reform.

Shi Haoyu initially practiced swimming: he started learning swimming at the age of 4, and at the age of 14, he ushered in a turning point in his sports career. In 2015, the coach of the Tianjin Flower Swimming Team came to the swimming team to select boys to practice flower swimming, and Shi Haoyu and several other boys were selected. At that time, there were almost no boys practicing flower tours in China, and he was also very curious about this project and went with a try mentality.

But he was the only one among several people who persevered in the end. Because for boys, practicing synchronized swimming requires overcoming more difficulties, especially in physical flexibility training, which many boys cannot bear. In addition, there is also a need to overcome secular misunderstandings - "Boys practicing flowers and traveling to the imperial palace!" However, Shi Haoyu enjoyed it and began a new journey.

Male contestants can also dance "water ballet"

Many people believe that synchronized swimming is an elegant and gentle sport, and the inclusion of male athletes seems somewhat out of place. So much so that the International Swimming Federation had to come forward and explain: compatibility and inclusiveness are one of the Olympic concepts, and synchronized swimming, as an Olympic sport, should treat male and female athletes with an equal attitude. So, more and more male athletes began to appear on the flower tour field.

For example, in this season's synchronized swimming World Cup, in addition to women's singles, doubles, and collective events, men's singles and mixed doubles events also received high attention.

Although the men's event of the Chinese team started late, it has been developing well in recent years. In this year's Flower Tour World Cup in Montpellier, France, Shi Haoyu and Zhang Yiyao won the mixed doubles technical self selection championship.

Shi Haoyu is currently the first male flower tournamenter in China, and at the age of 22, he has participated in three World Championships. In the 2022 Budapest Swimming World Championships, he and his partner Zhang Yiyao won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles technical self selection final. This was the first medal won by the Chinese flower swimming team in the mixed doubles competition at the World Championships, and also the first time a Chinese male athlete has stepped onto the podium of the World Championships flower swimming competition. As of now, this is the only Chinese male athlete who has participated in international competitions.

After the World Championships, there will be even more intense competition in the Paris Olympics. "No matter what competition, my goal remains the same - to stand on the podium," said Shi Haoyu.

For the future, he has more pursuits and hopes to actively promote synchronized swimming projects, allowing more boys to participate in this project.

"In the past, many people believed that boys were not suitable for practicing synchronized swimming, but in fact, boys can fully demonstrate their masculine side in flower swimming. Like dance, both boys and girls can dance." Shi Haoyu said that people should learn to accept and appreciate the different beauty of flower swimming.