Men will now be eligible to compete in the team event, which features eight athletes on each team.

The new rules will permit a maximum of two men to feature on each squad at the Games, with ten teams expected to take part in Paris.

"Aquatics sports are universal and men have proven themselves to be excellent artistic swimmers," said World Aquatics President Husain Al-Musallam.  

"I look forward to seeing this new dimension of artistic swimming being shared with the world in Paris. 

"The inclusion of men in artistic swimming is a great credit to all those who have worked for many years to make this happen." 

Artistic swimming, formerly known as synchronised swimming until 2017, has been in the Olympic Games since 1984 and this will be the first time that men have been eligible for the discipline.

Men have been allowed to compete in the discipline at the World Aquatics Championships since 2015.

American Bill May was the first-ever artistic swimming male world champion in the inaugural mixed duet technical event in 2015, before becoming a coach and has been one of the leading advocates for the change.

"The inclusion of men in Olympic artistic swimming was once considered the impossible dream," he said.

"This proves that we should all dream big. 

"The male athletes have endured. 

"Now, through their perseverance and the help and support of so many, all athletes may stand alongside each other equally, reaching for Olympic glory."

World champion in the mixed duet technical routine in 2017 and 2022 Giorgio Minisini of Italy echoed May's sentiments.

"This announcement marks a milestone in artistic swimming history," Minisini stated.

"Our sport's evolution towards inclusivity is going on fast forward, and this decision from IOC and World Aquatics will help us become an example for the whole Olympic movement.  

"As one of the most popular sports in the Games, we are ready to share the Olympic motto around the world louder than ever: 'Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together'."

Svetlana Romashina, a seven-time Olympic champion from Russia, has criticised the move saying that allowing men to compete could turn group performances into a lottery.

"We have already tried to analyse this point before, and we understand that not all countries have strong boys who can perform in group exercises at the Olympic Games," Romashina said, as reported by Russian state-run news agency TASS.

"In addition, you need to understand and reasonably assess that the coaching staff will have to slightly modify the programmes for boys in order to somehow highlight them, show them. 

"Or someone, on the contrary, will leave the most ordinary programmes. 

"This will be a certain risk, and the question is who will take it."