Bill May exclusive: After 34 years of dreaming, the artistic swimmer is relishing his chance to compete at the Olympic Games
The 44-year-old has the opportunity to compete at Paris 2024, 20 years after watching his team from the sidelines at the Athens Games
Artistic Swimming
For 34 years, Bill May has woken up thinking about the Olympic Games.
As a male artistic swimmer, his dream of competing there had been impossible to achieve, until the moment - at 9:42 pm on 17 December - he received the call.
When he picked up the telephone, May was told that for the first time ever, men would be allowed to compete in the Olympic artistic swimming competition and he would be eligible to represent Team USA on the world's biggest sporting stage.
“Before he could even get the word out, you know, I was like, YES,” May told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview ahead of the 2023 Pan American Games.
May had won his first national championship in the '90s and continued to dominate wherever he was allowed to compete. But it wasn’t until 2015 that he was permitted to take part in the World Aquatics Championships where, over a decade after he had retired, he returned to the sport he loved and won gold.
Now, with the announcement that male artistic swimmers would be allowed at the Olympics, the final hurdle May faced has been overcome and the athlete will have the chance to fulfill his lifelong dream of competing at the Games.
May is now training full-time for Paris 2024, where he will have the opportunity to compete exactly 20 years after he sat on the sidelines at the Athens 2004 Games, watching his team perform without him.
Kristina Lum Underwood and Bill May of the United States compete in the Mixed Duet Free Synchronised Swimming Preliminary on day four of the 16th FINA World Championships at the Kazan Arena on July 28, 2015 in Kazan, Russia.
The backstory of Bill May
34 years ago, May signed up for his first synchronized swimming class at 10 years old.
It was 1989, and his sister was taking lessons at their local club in New York. May decided he’d rather join in than sit on the pool deck waiting for her to be done, so he enrolled.
“I thought I was going to do it for fun, be with my sister, just have fun over the summer,” he said.
“And then it turned out to be the greatest gift in my life and everything in my life and my career and everything that I can hope for is because of artistic swimming.”
May's talent for artistic swimming began to define his life.
At 16, he moved to California to live with a host family and train with the nation's top club, the Santa Clara Aquamaids. In the coming decade, he went on to make podiums at the US National Championships, Swiss Open and French Open, and was named U.S. Synchronized Swimming Athlete of the Year in 1998 and 1999.
However, by the time he was 25, he was no longer able to pursue artistic swimming full-time anymore, due to the rules that existed around male artistic swimmers which meant he wasn't often able to compete and, as a result, missed out on financial aid.
May took the decision to retire and moved to Las Vegas for the next 10 years, where he began performing in Cirque du Soleil’s water-based show, ‘O.’
But in the lead-up to the 2015 Worlds, he was told that should he want to he would be eligible to compete. Even after 10 years of retirement, there was not a moment of hesitation before he said yes.
May went to Kazan, Russia in July 2015, and gold in the mixed duet technical. Not only for himself but for men and boys across the world.
Now with five World Championships medals in his pocket, his sights are set on Paris.
“I'm 25 years older than some of the youngest [athletes], but I won't stop. Nothing's going to stop me.”
“We're going to put on a show that no one has ever seen,” May said about his plans for Paris 2024.
Kristina Lum-Underwood and Bill May of the United States compete in the Mixed Duet Free Synchronised Swimming Final on day six of the 16th FINA World Championships at the Kazan Arena on July 30, 2015 in Kazan, Russia.
Bill May’s growing legacy
“To younger male athletes, I would say, embrace who you are. Be yourself. Be that person that's going to fight for what you want because you get an opportunity for that. And once that opportunity comes, it's given to you for life. So stand tall, be strong”
With his persistence and tenacity, May has inspired male artistic swimmers around the world.
World class athletes including Giorgio Minisini have cited the 44-year-old as a source of inspiration during times of struggle in their own careers.
May stresses the fact that men and women should not be compared in the sport, but rather looked at in a way that their individual skills complement each other, and therefore help to grow and evolve the sport of artistic swimming.
“It adds a new dynamic. The athleticism is going to grow just because you have two types of strengths working together and coming together to improve each other.”
After Paris, May will resume his job as the head coach of the Santa Clara Aquamats where being a mentor continues to excite him every day.
“Every part of my life is within artistic swimming and that’s how I love it and that’s how I want it to always be.”
But these days, there is something else he can use to inspire the young, aspiring male artistic swimmers who have come under his tutelage: a dream of going to an Olympic Games that is closer than ever to becoming a reality.