Lifeguard in the Olympic pool? 'If required'

 In the Olympic pool, the world's best swimmers are never more than a few strokes from the edge and always have the floating lane close at hand. They are constantly watched by various coaches and assistants.



Who watches the athletes:

The lifeguards. The Olympic pool has lifeguards in case someone like Michael Phelps, the winner of 18 medals, is drowning.

The lifeguards at the Olympics games have perhaps the best view of the venue, as they are one of the few people allowed around the pool. But maybe they don't feel very useful.

Their appearance

During a workout this week, Phelps crisscrossed the pool, stroke after stroke, lap after lap, preparing for the race that began Saturday. The arena was nearly empty, with just a few trainers, volunteers, and security guards. There were also two men in red shorts, whistles around their necks and floats under their arms, watching intently from both sides of the pool.

  • They never used their whistles. Not once did they yell at the athletes not to run on the floor around the pool. They never moved into action, never even felt their hearts beat a little faster at the sudden, momentary possibility (still not out of the water?) that someone needed help.
  • Apparently, Olympic lifeguards are the same ones who calmly keep an eye on the antics and scampering at community pools and are ready to jump into the water and rescue a swimmer in trouble.

There are more or less 75 of them —15 are women— and they have been hired to work in the Olympic venues and in training centers for swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo. (Monitoring open-water competitions like triathlons, marathon swims, and sailing is a separate matter.)

Life jacket:

A life jacket may be useful at some events. Water polo can be very rough. Synchronized swimming is a surprising source of bruises. Divers are at risk of injury when hitting the water.

However, in the pool, which is three meters deep, in competitions such as the 50-meter freestyle and the breaststroke, do you need a lifeguard or two?

“Yes, it is necessary,” said Danielle Matelotes, 25, the lifeguard supervisor at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. She mentioned the chances of cramps, heart attacks, and head banging against the wall.

“We hope they don't need our involvement,” he said.

Certainly, no swimmer has died in the Olympics, but it remains unclear if a competitor has ever needed a lifeguard. Either way, lifeguards are a common appearance at world swimming meets. If someone has the urge to become a lifeguard they can get our lifeguard services like lifeguard training, lifeguard courses, and lifeguard classes you can contact us on our site American lifeguard association.