For decades, he’s been dreaming about going to the Olympics. Now because of a rule change, that dream is looking more like a reality for artistic swimmer Bill May.
May grew up training in the South Bay with the Santa Clara Aquamaids, after his family moved to California when he was 16 years old.
But being a male in a predominately female sport meant he could only go so far. May went into coaching, eventually becoming the head coach of Santa Clara Artistic Swimming. He also performed with Cirque Du Soleil for years.
Things changed in 2022. That’s when May got the call that men were going to be allowed to compete on artistic swimming teams with women at the Paris Olympics. May remembers the call well.
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“You mean December 17? At 9:41 pm?” May said. “You know, I got a call. And they said, hey it’s going into the Olympics. Are you ready?”
May says he didn’t need to think about it.
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“I was born ready,” said May. “This is a dream that anyone would want. So to have this opportunity and to have the support of my club, my coaches, my friends, my family. It was an opportunity that I could never pass up.”
Now at 45 years old, May has been training in Southern California as a member of the US National Team, hopeful to make it to Paris and bring home the gold.
The second oldest member on the team is still 25 years younger than May. He says with his age comes a lot of experience, just one way he can contribute to the squad.
Team USA competes next month at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar to see if they qualify for the Olympics. If they do, they will have to pare the 12 members on the team down to just eight.
