Kenyon Smith has a dream. The 18-year-old from San José, California, has been training for seven hours a day and praying every night that his dedication will be rewarded with an Olympic gold medal. But there is one problem. Smith is a synchronised swimmer and as far as the IOC is concerned, he is not welcome in Beijing this summer because he is a man.

In this age of equality, women can row, shoot and wrestle, but the IOC has drawn the line at a man pirouetting in a swimming pool. “I'm the only guy in my club and I get the male changing-rooms all to myself,” Smith, who started throwing shapes in the pool when he was 8, said. “My friends and family are very supportive, but there's not much I can do about the Olympics. I don't think it's fair at all.”

Smith tried his hand at skiing and snowboarding when he was growing up in Boulder, Colorado, but the American became hooked on the aquatic life when Layla, his older sister, joined a local synchronised swimming club. Fast-forward ten years and brother and sister are members of the Santa Clara Aquamaids and Kenyon is the star of the show, leading seven female members of his team through complex and physically demanding underwater routines. “People think that synchro is easy because it looks easy on TV, but it's very difficult,” Smith said. “You have to be incredibly fit and it makes no difference whether you are a man or woman.”

Smith thought that he had won a small but significant battle in the gender wars when he made the cut at the United States Olympic Trials last year, but rules are rules and he and Chris Carver, his coach, were told that he had been eliminated because he is a he. “Apparently, he can't go because the sport is called women's synchronised swimming,” Carver said. “It's sad because Kenyon has great balance, speed, strength and flexibility. Hopefully the rules will be changed soon.”

Women are not allowed to go for gold in boxing or baseball and men are banned from rhythmic gymnastics, softball and synchronised swimming, although that could change before London 2012 thanks to Smith and the thick-skinned boys in the UK who are dipping their toes in the water.

“We have boys taking part at club level until they are 12 or 13, but then they stop because they get bullied at school,” Adele Carlsen, the technical programme manager for British Swimming, said. “Men would add a new dimension because they're stronger, but women are more buoyant.”

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