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

If Bill May makes the U.S. Olympic team, he will become the first man ever to compete in artistic swimming, formerly known as synchronized swimming, at the Games.

Bill May and U.S. Olympic artistic swimming teammates training in Los Angeles last month.

By Sarah Lyall

Photographs by Daniel Dorsa

Reporting from Los Angeles

  • June 6, 2024Updated 9:40 a.m. ET

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.