At 45, He Vies With Women Half His Age, Seeking an Olympic First

July 27, 2024 8:41 AM

NYTimes: As you watch the U.S. Artistic Swimming team practice for the Olympics — their bodies upside down, their legs scissoring in the air in perfect time, like frenzied offshore wind turbines — you will notice two things. First, the sport is much harder, and possibly even more insane, than you thought. Second, in a discipline whose enthusiasm for homogeneity is reflected in its pre-2017 name, synchronized swimming, one of the athletes in the pool is very much not like the others. His name is Bill May, and he is the only man on the team. (archive). Spoiler inside.

Swimmer Trying to Make Olympic History Is Left Off the U.S. Team (archive)

2024 Olympics Artistic Swimming schedule starts August 5.

posted by ShooBoo (10 comments total)

And the sport is in the midst of scoring and rule changes that are being worked out in real time! The new scoring system establishes a difficulty level based on the figures (under water legs in the air moves) you do, how long you are under water, any sustained height moves, flexibility moves and the number rotations in your spins.

Jaqueline Simoneau won Solo gold at the world championships with a routine that systematically exploited this new scoring system. Don't get me wrong, her routine was unbelievable. Since difficulty is only earned underwater, she effectively just breathed a couple of times and completed astonishing figure after astonishing figure.

She swam this routine on February 6, and by March 1, new rules were announced (for younger swimmers for now) that at least 50% of the routine time must be spent above water. The new rule changes also immediately limited the number of rotations in combinations that can be counted per figure

There's lots to watch for in the pool as everyone has had to adjust their routines in the last few months.
posted by Sauter Vaguely at 9:27 AM on July 27 [3 favorites]

To be clear, Bill May isn't competing at the Olympics, right? The framing has me doubting my reading comprehension - I remembered the article about him not making the team back in June and thought maybe something had changed?
posted by trig at 9:47 AM on July 27 [1 favorite]

"I'm not a strong swimmer"
posted by stevil at 10:16 AM on July 27 [5 favorites]

Yes, this was the first time men could, in theory, compete in Olympic artistic swimming. Unfortunately, none made the cut.
posted by thisiscolossal at 11:51 AM on July 27

What is the point here? He is in his 40s and couldn't make the cut against athletes half his age? He is also one of the tiny number of men who even participate in this event (so it is hardly surprising that he wouldn't necessarily be at the top tier).
posted by hankmajor at 1:01 PM on July 27 [2 favorites]

Well, it's cool that the sport is finally open to becoming less gendered - in part thanks to him - and his story is interesting. The title just made me think he was vying for a medal at these Olympics, but it's an out of date headline.

To be honest spending hours practicing upside down in the water as described in the first link sounds so unpleasant it's a wonder there are enough people into it to make up a team, let alone teams all over the world, but apparently he fell in love with it at first kick so I guess humanity is a giant land of contrasts.

They spend much of their time upside down, holding their breath and remaining afloat by rapidly sculling with their arms. They’re not allowed to touch the bottom of the pool, their underwater vision is fuzzy (goggles are forbidden in competition) and their routines are so precise and their configurations so compact that the slightest misstep can result in unpleasant collisions and kicks in the head. It’s not unusual for athletes to become concussed or to faint from the intensity. In 2022, the American artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez passed out and sank to the bottom of the pool after performing a solo routine at the world aquatics championships.

posted by trig at 3:10 PM on July 27 [1 favorite]

Can someone help me appreciate this sport? I recognize that it's very difficult, and that these competitors have athletic skills of the highest degree. But I'm having problems getting beyond it just being a pair of legs waving around above the water. What am I missing?
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:47 PM on July 27

I did synchro as a kid and competed against Bill May so it’s wild to me that he is still going 35+ years later. It’s too bad it took so long to change the rules: even four years ago I think he would have likely made the team. He was able to hang with the best of them for decades, much longer than most artistic swimmers, so kudos to him for his great career.
posted by scantee at 4:03 PM on July 27 [9 favorites]

Hi, corpse. Artistic Swimming is legs waving in the air... because currently, that is the only way to earn difficulty, which is the only way for athletes of this level to win (in solo).

But the team routines also include pattern (formation) changes, acrobatic lifts and throws, and the insanely coordinated movement of 8 swimmers, above and below the water. In my opinion, the teams are the most exciting to watch, if you are sincerely looking to understand the appeal of the sport as a spectator.

As a middle-aged athlete, I've kept doing the sport because it scratches creative, athletic, and collaborative itches. We choose (and often cut) our music, develop a theme, design the choreography, learn the skills needs to pull off the choreo, train to get stronger or maintain flexibility, and work together to perform and compete. It is a pretty cool way to stay in mental, physical and social shape!
posted by Sauter Vaguely at 5:48 PM on July 27 [5 favorites]

Yup, sincerely asking. Thank you!
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:16 PM on July 27