Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-174.101.116.82-20130729125737/@comment-50.175.29.173-20140712005514

Honestly, though, the subtext has become so bad that it's almost queerbaiting in itself. The fujoshi (and others) show up for the homosexuality, and they stay and try to live off of the BL subtext, while the other fans are content with their heterosexual headcanons and the swimming and the "no they're not gay, that would be weird." So now KyoAni's trying to deliver to both of the franchise's fanbases, which is similar to the debacle known in the Supernatural fandom as Destiel if you have experience with that, by keeping the homosexual undertones relevant but not delivering when it comes to canon itself so as to not scare off their other, hetero-friendly viewers.

Long story short, KyoAni is really milking this for what it's worth, and while there's no doubt that Free! isn't completely heterosexual (not under the surface, at least), nothing is probably going to become canon.