An Ottawa man and a father-daughter duo will have a prime view of some of the top aquatic events at the Olympics this summer, while they watch over the athletes’ safety.
More than 700 people from around the world applied for a small number of lifeguard positions in Paris.
“This is going to be a thrill,” John Rapp said. “I just thought this was a super cool opportunity.”
At 67, Rapp may be one of the more experienced lifeguards of the dozen who are in Paris from Canada, including four from the Ottawa area.
Two others joining him for the once-in-a-lifetime experience are Stéphane and Karianne Cliche, a father-daughter lifeguarding team.
“[I’m] super excited to be doing this with my daughter and the rest of the team,” said Stéphane Cliche.
“He started me into lifeguarding and now that we’re lifeguarding together at this super big event, I just find that that’s so cool,” said Kerianne Cliche, who started training to be a lifeguard a decade ago and currently works as one for the City of Ottawa.
“So much work got put into this, and it finally has a big reward.”
Rapp and the Cliches start their Parisien adventure with an intensive week-long training session under France’s national lifeguarding society, the Fédération Française de Sauvetage et de Secourisme, to be legally certified to work in the country.
Rapp has heard all the jokes about lifeguarding at the Olympics, but said even top athletes can get into trouble in the water.
“You’re talking about athletes that are pushing the limits of human endurance, so bad things can happen anytime,” Rapp said. “There have been a number of incidents at world championships and Olympics over the years.”
One of those incidents happened just a couple years ago when a U.S. artistic swimmer fainted at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.
Anita Alvarez sinking to the bottom of the pool unconscious at the end of her free solo routine during the world championships last summer sent shockwaves through the crowd and the sports world.
In his 49 years as a lifeguard, Rapp has seen his fair share of swimmers struggling, especially at Mooney’s Bay. In fact, he said Ottawa’s rivers have also given him good practice for the Seine in Paris, where many aquatic events will take place.
“You jump on the paddle board and off you go and you go fast because if they go under water, the water’s not that clear. You want to get there fast enough that you can find them,” he said.
Stéphane Cliche isn’t worried about the questions surrounding the water quality of the Seine, even if he has to take the plunge himself at some point.
“Working on the Seine would be a dream,” he said.
Karianne Cliche said her ultimate dream would be to see Canadian Olympian Summer McIntosh.
“Being there in the moment and then seeing those athletes that have trained all their life to be in that moment, trying to live that moment just a little bit with them, is going to be just really, really cool,” she said.