The International Swimming Federation (FINA) published today all aquatics qualification processes for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Back in December 2020, the IOC had revealed the official Paris programme alongside the allocate number of athletes for each sport. Unfortunately, the athletes quota for artistic swimming was reduced from 102 to 96.
As a result 10 teams and 18 duets will participate in the 2024 Olympic Games. In Tokyo, 22 nations competed in the duet event, while the number of teams remained the same.
Additionally, nations qualified in both the team and duet events can enter a maximum of eight athletes. For the duet, it is a maximum of two.
Finally, there will be no Olympic Games Qualification Tournament this cycle. All quotas will only be determined via continental championships and the 2024 World Championships hosted in Doha, Qatar, in February.
TEAM QUALIFICATION
Once again, a total of 10 teams will compete in Paris.
Countries will have two pathways to qualify as a team to the 2024 Olympics:
Step One – Continental Championships (5): The highest ranked countries in each of the five continental championships will obtain a quota. As the host, France is automatically qualified and occupies the continental quota for Europe. The quota for the Americas will go to the country that wins the Pan American Games in October 2023. The continental championships for Africa, Asia and Oceania are still to be determined.
Step Two – 2024 World Championships (5): The five remaining team spots will be allocated at the World Championships in Doha in February 2024, and obviously to those not already qualified through the continental route.
Per FINA, these two phases are held in chronological order and are not interchangeable.
DUET QUALIFICATION
As the IOC reduced the sport’s quota by eight spots, this now means that four less duets will go to the Olympics. 18 pairs will swim in Paris.
There are three ways for nations to qualify a duet to these Games:
Step One – Through the team (10): The 10 qualified teams will automatically qualify their duet.
Step Two – Continental Championships (5): Just like for the Tokyo Olympics, the highest placing nation in each of the five continental championships will each obtain a quota place. Should the highest ranked duet already be qualified through the team at that continental event, the next highest ranked pair will obtain that quota.
Step Three – 2024 World Championships: All remaining duet spots will be attributed at these World Championships to reach the total of 18 duets. Just adding up the numbers, it seems three spots are left and up for grabs. However, it might be more once the team field is set, thus leading to potential reallocation of a few continental quotas (i.e. a duet may qualify by itself through the continental route and the team may qualify later on at the WC).
Indeed, if a duet qualifies through the team during this competition, only the rankings of these Worlds will be used to determine the next eligible duet. Similarly, only the rankings of these World Championships will be considered for any remaining reallocations without any reference to continental qualifications.
This means that the continental duet quota will not “move down” to the next highest ranked pair if the original, quota-winning duet ends up earning its quota through the team qualification. That quota will simply be put back into play at the Doha World Championships.
Like in team, all these phases are to be held in chronological order and separately.
Once qualified, each federation will need to confirm their quota. Should a nation not enter despite being qualified, the spot will be reallocated by FINA to the next best ranked duet or team not yet qualified from the 2024 World Championships. It is the same if the host country were to not use their automatic quota.
The full qualification system is available here.
Paris 2024 Qualification Timeline
- Continental Qualifiers for Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania: TBD
- October 20 – November 5, 2023 – Pan American Games (Santiago, Chile)
- February 2 – 18, 2024 – FINA World Championships (Doha, Qatar)
- August 5 – 10, 2024 – Olympic Games (Paris, France)
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Cover photo: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia
If you’ve enjoyed our coverage, please consider donating to Inside Synchro! Any amount helps us run the site and travel costs to cover meets during the season.