Atta boy

May wins rare male medal in synchronized duet

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Monday July 20, 1998 10:47 PM

Regional rules allowed May (left) into the Goodwill Games and he made the most of the opportunity

UNIONDALE, New York (AP) -- She wore blue with silver spangles and a head full of hair gel. He showed off his bare chest and a haircut straight out of boot camp.

Together, Bill May and Kristina Lum won the duet silver medal in synchronized swimming at the Goodwill Games Monday, a rare feat for a man in a sport where the rules usually read women only.

"To get a silver medal against the world's best swimmers is definitely the highlight of my career," May said.

May, from Cicero, New York, and Lum, from Fremont, California, finished 1.2 points behind Maria Kisseleva and Olga Brousnikina, the reigning world champions from Russia.

Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda of Japan were third, another 0.6 points back.

The international swimming federation bars men from synchronized swimming in the Olympics and most other major meets. But regional rules allowed May into the Goodwill Games and he made the most of the opportunity.

May is the first man on any national synchro team and the first to compete in the sport's top event of the year. Gold medals in singles and duet at last year's Swiss Open were the first for a man at an international meet, and the Goodwill silver was another step in May's quest to change the sport into something like underwater ice dancing.

He and Lum evened borrowed heavily from the most famous ice-dance team, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, competing to Ravel's 'Bolero' in the Goodwill finale.

It was a different scene from the usual synchro competition, and not just because May was bare from the waist up.

The routine was sensuous, with flowing contact between the partners and muscular maneuvers under the water.

"There's a certain passion and intensity that men bring to the sport, and our free routine today was designed specifically to showcase that male-female relationship," May said. "We were very excited about our swim and the results."

When their score of 97.933 was announced, May and Lum hugged and enjoyed being in first place, even though they knew Brousnikina and Kisseleva had yet to compete.

The Russian pair won with three perfect 10's, compared with one for May and Lum, and the rest 9.9's.

"We are pleased with the scores," Brousnikina said. "But personally, being the world champions, we thought we could have done better."

Afterward, there was an awkward moment on the medals stand, when the judges couldn't find flowers for May. A bouquet eventually was produced, as it was for the five women he shared the podium with.

"We were very focused on what we had to do and were determined to show that not only do men belong in the sport but they can belong on the medal stand as well," Lum said. "I think we made a statement here - statement about men in the sport and a statement about how Team USA is on the rise."

Related information
Stories
Synchronized swimmer in line to become first male to medal Synchronized swimming kicks off Goodwill aquatics
Stats
Synchronized Swimming results - July 20
Multimedia
Check out the silver medal performance of Bill May and Kristina Lum   • Start(2.61 M .MOV) Click here for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call 1-888-53-CNNSI.