There's A Man In The Water
The U.S. synchronized swimming team has added a man to the mix.
With his partner, Kristina Lum, swimmer Bill May won the national and duet team titles. And the whole team won the silver medal Monday night at the Goodwill Games in New York. CBS 'This Morning' Field Anchor Jose Diaz-Balart and Contributor Eleanor Mondale paid the team a visit Tuesday morning at Manhattan's Asphalt Green Swim Club.
Synchronized swimming is like gymnastics in the water, explained Chris Carver, the team coach. Elite-level synchronized swimmers can swim up to 160 feet underwater without coming up for air. During a five-minute routine, a swimmer may spend up to 1 minute at a time underwater while performing intense inverted movements.
May is the only man at the elite level in synchronized swimming. Such swimmers perform five-minute programs during which their heart rates may climb to 185. And, about 30 percent of the time, they are holding their breath.
"They're judged like ice skaters, from a standpoint of perfection, from a scale of 1 to 10," the coach explained, adding that synchronized swimming combines elements of gymnastics, swimming, and skating.
In international competitions, including the Olympics, men are not recognized in the sport of synchronized swimming. But May thinks the Goodwill Games might help change that.
"Many international powers are here that govern the rules of the water sports," he explained, "and I think that it will open up the doors for many men to join synchronized swimming."
Currently, May is allowed to officially compete only during invitational events, and the team hopes to be able to send May and Lum to Sydney in 2000 for an exhibition performance in front of international judges.
 Kristina Lum |
And Lum is all for May staying with the sport. When she performs with May, said Lum, it is like ice dancing, "where they're intertwining, and my arms are around him, and he's pushing me up. So there are moves I wouldn't do with another female."
The former U.S. synchronized swimming team was ranked No. 1 in the world from 1991 to 1996. After the 1996 Atlanta games, the entire team retired after having won the gold medal.
Since the new team was formed shortly thereafter, they have placed in such competitions as the 1997 World Cup.
Reported by Jose Diaz-Balart and Eleanor Mondale