Excluded from the Olympics for his whole career, artistic swimmer Bill May set for ‘beautiful’ debut at this year’s Games

For decades, Bill May has dreamed of competing at the Olympics. It’s not athletic ability which has prevented him from achieving that goal to date, but a far more fundamental issue: he’s a man.

For decades, Bill May has dreamed of competing at the Olympics. It’s not athletic ability which has prevented him from achieving that goal to date, but a far more fundamental issue: he’s a man. Until recently, male artistic swimmers have been excluded from competing at the Olympics, though a rule change announced just over a year ago means that May, a 45-year-old veteran of the sport, can finally fulfill his lifelong ambition. “There is nothing in the world that could ever be bad right now,” he tells CNN Sport, understandably elated after the USA’s qualification for this year’s Games in Paris. “Everything is beautiful, amazing, wonderful. We’re going to the Olympics.” Few athletes will be more deserving of their place at this year’s Games, which get underway in July, than May, and few will have had such an onerous, circuitous path to get there. Precisely 20 years ago, with men still banned from artistic swimming, May watched from the side of the pool as the US team won bronze in Athens. He stepped away from the sport after that, joining the Cirque du Soleil in its water production, “O.” That was his life for the next 10 years, at least until his competitive career was handed a lifeline.