Paris Olympics: meet the American hoping to be first man to compete in a women’s sport – aged 45
- Several men are clamouring to join the fray in Paris in what was previously a women-only domain
- Bill May is battling rivals more than 20 years younger as he chases an ‘opportunity of a lifetime’
Bill May is hoping to create history this weekend and become the first man to secure a spot in the USA artistic swimming team.
Until this year, artistic swimming – the new name for synchronised swimming – was a female-only domain, leaving May to cheer on from the sidelines.
At 45 years old, it was assumed his chance was gone, but he will be battling with teammates over 20 years his junior when he competes at the newly built Aquatics Centre in Paris.
If May makes the final eight as the team is cut down from its 12 team members, it will fulfil the dream he has been living for 35 years.
“To say that I’m going to the Olympic Games, it’s something almost unimaginable, because it’s something that I thought that I would never be able to do during my career,” he said at the team’s Olympic training base at Eaubonne, outside the French capital.
May, who took up the sport when he was 10 to compete with his sister, was given the big news just before Christmas 2022.