Male Synchro Swimmer Barred from Olympics

Sept. 1 -- He’s a man competing in a predominantly woman’s sport, and that suits Bill May just fine.

Think of synchronized swimming, and visions of Esther Williams come to mind: Women with Vaseline-slicked hair, nose plugs and makeup who compete on teams named the Mermaids and Dolphinettes.

But the sport is hardly dainty, requiring tremendous strength and stamina. And today it also includes men — although it’s still a pretty exclusive club, and May is among the best there is.

No Men Allowed

May, the first male member of the U.S. national team, wasn’t allowed to compete in the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The World Championships have been off limits, too. And now May isn’t going to Sydney to compete in the Olympics either.

That’s because men aren’t allowed at worldwide competitions and the Olympics. A proposal to allow mixed pairs will be voted on by the international swimming federation (FINA) on Sept. 14.

“Seeing my entire team go off to Sydney without me has to have been the hardest moment in the sport,” says May, 21, who moved without his family from Syracuse, N.Y., to California when he was 16 so he could train with the Santa Clara Aquamaids.

But would he have made the Olympic team had he been allowed to compete? “Let me tell you this,” says Chris Carver, May’s coach and that of current Olympians, “He not only would have made the team, he would have been among the very top of the competitors on the U.S. team.”

A Champion’s Attitude

May won synchronized swimming’s Grand Slam (solo, duet, team and figures) at the 2000 Jantzen Nationals, finished first in duet at the Swiss Open and French Open last year, and was named the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Athlete of the Year in 1998 and 1999.

“Bill has a tremendously high skill level that is not necessarily related to being a man,” Carver explains. “He’s very flexible, he’s very intelligent and takes corrections very well, he’s very creative. … But the thing that brings it all together is his attitude — he has a champion’s attitude. He knows what it takes to win.”