Brazil has a promising mixed duet that breaks barriers in artistic swimming

Many are still unaware and repeat the same question asked by Murillo when he discovered the sport, six years ago: but is there anything artistic for men? He learned that he did and today he is emerging as a promise of Brazil in youth competitions.

In early December, Murillo Cunha, 16, and Celina Rangel, 18, will participate in the Junior Pan-American Games, in Colombia, and with that they will star in an important milestone. It will be the first event under the scope of the COB (Olympic Committee of Brazil) with the mixed duet event.

The inclusion of men in the artistic field, for decades disputed only by women, has taken place gradually. At Fina World Championships (International Swimming Federation), since 2015 mixed events are part of the program. In recent years, they also became part of regional and youth tournaments.

An old dream is missing, the inclusion of the mixed duet in the Olympic Games schedule, which still doesn’t have a date to happen.

At the age of 10, Murillo learned that he could practice the sport because of his sister, when he accompanied her on a test project that the São Paulo government had at the Ibirapuera Center of Excellence. Invited to participate in the selection, he accepted and was approved. You could choose between water polo, swimming and synchronized swimming (name used until 2017).

He opted for the latter, much to the surprise of his parents, who didn’t stop supporting him in the decision. “My father said ‘okay, then go swimming, but if you don’t want to, let me know, if you’re in pain, if they’re talking bad about you too, we’ll talk about it.’ It was something that gave me the security to continue “, says Murillo.

The prejudiced comments came, and the athlete often admits to having suffered from playing a predominantly female sport. I also saw the few boys who started to drop out of training after a short time.

“I’ve been through many of these situations, some of them I still go through sometimes. I had to create this shield from time to time. As I gained maturity, I started not to care so much about these things and from then on it was just a climb,” he says.

After the end of the Ibirapuera project, Murillo joined the Paineiras club. Since 2019, he has been training the mixed duet with Celina, who, two years older, has followed her partner’s maturing in and out of the pools.

“Everyone has always admired his courage, because there is this issue of prejudice. We were even afraid of him giving up. It would be sad, a potential that could be lost, but we were happy that he persisted”, she says.

At the beginning of the partnership, Celina also had to adapt to the novelty. At the time, she practiced choreography solo, in the female duet and in a team, but she had never trained with a boy.

Both recognize that, as they are not close friends, in addition to the age difference, the partnership cost a little to get involved. Gradually, the relationship between them improved, and the movements in the water also began to fit more easily.

“Both have evolved a lot since we started training together. I learned to be calmer, to be more patient, and he has also matured since 2019, he had a great evolution technically and as a person”, says Celina.

Although they are still a minority —currently there are 31 male practitioners in Brazil, out of a total of 260 athletes—, they increasingly gain their space. Brazil participated in the mixed duet in the last two World Cups, with Renan Alcântara and Giovana Stephan, and was in seventh place in 2017 and 2019, both in the technical routine and in the freestyle.

Fluminense, the strength of the sport, presented its first male duet at the beginning of the month. The tricolor club also has a men’s team, but there are still no official competitions with exclusive competitions for the genre.

Murillo and Celina know that the potential for evolution in a race that is still recent for the whole world is enormous. That is why they believe that this may be a rare opportunity for Brazil to stand out, as in the female categories the country is lagging behind the great powers.

The mixed duet is also seen as a way to expand the artistic possibilities of the presentations. In Paineiras’ partnership choreographies there are more traditional moments, for example when Murillo leads Celina in a tango, and others with changes in conventional gender roles, in which she lifts her partner out of the water.

“When the mixed duet started, they were all very similar. Now it’s modern, with better acceptance. The fear of ‘exploiting’ the boy is decreasing, and they are more open to receiving different moves. Before, Murillo was worried about whether the movement is more feminine or not, and today it doesn’t matter so much,” explains Priscila Cesarino Pedron, coach of the duo and of the Brazilian youth team.

the ancient olympic dream

Andrea Curi, technical coordinator of artistic swimming at Paineiras, has already been to three Olympics with Brazilian athletes. She followed the long process of including men in sport, which debuted at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles-1984.

In 2000, a report from sheet he told that American Bill May was frustrated for not being able to attend that year’s edition, in Sydney, and nourished the desire to be present in Athens-2004.

A pioneer and considered a phenomenon in the pools, he had to fight a lot more for his chance. He waited until 2015 to debut at the Worlds and also participated in the 2017 and 2019 editions.

Although the IOC (International Olympic Committee) increasingly encourages mixed events and speaks about the importance of gender equality, it is already defined that the debut of men in the Olympics will not take place in Paris-2024. The next hope becomes Los Angeles-2028.

“The swimming community would very much like the mixed duet to be an Olympic event. To Lisa Schott [diretora da modalidade na Fina] is super in favor and is doing exhibition work, putting on all competitions. I think there is still a technical path to evolve, I would say that today about three athletes in the world would have high performance at an Olympic level. We need to convince with very strong evidence”, says Curi.

In addition to visibility, entry into the Games in Brazil would help Murillo and other colleagues to feed the sport’s plans to make a living. More than prejudice and provocations, today his frustration lies in not being eligible for the Bolsa Atleta program, aimed only at Olympic sports.

“This has made me think about going out many times, focusing on something else,” he laments. “We don’t know the future, but for now I’m here.”

Not even for Celina, who has been in the artistic profession since the age of six and can at least receive government encouragement, to pursue a professional career is a definite step so far.

“It’s an anguish and a tension”, she sums up about the vagueness. But the desire to make history still prevails. “The maximum achievement would be to go to the first Olympics with the mixed duet. If they allow participation and we can be there, it will be a dream come true.”