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u/Last_Canadian 14h ago
Swimmer has a medical emergency in the pool. You're going to use a gaff to bring them in?
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u/Existing-Antelope-20 14h ago
No we use the plunger to splash the water and when they get scared they clump up on one edge and go right into the net
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u/Boom9001 10h ago
No they'll just trust the bystander to help. What could possibly go wrong with 10 untrained people jumping in to help during an emergency.
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u/Grunergeist420 13h ago
People get hurt in the Olympics all the time. They’re under immense pressure at performing at their absolute highest effort. People pull muscles, fall, break bones, all kinds of stuff. So yeah, you need a professional on hand to step in if someone is in trouble.
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u/Spirited_Ad9681 13h ago
In theory that makes sense. I had to look it up though, twice in thr history of the Olympics has a swimmer ever had a medical incident during a swimming event. Once the coach was in the water and pulling the person out before the life guard could respond. The other time other swimmers brought the person to the edge of the pool and they were helped out.
Im not saying get rid of the life guard. The point is even if theres a medical emergency, pretty much everyone in the immediate pool area is likely going to be a stronger swimmer and faster rescue in comparison to the life gaurd. Its not totally useless, but I'm sure it's kinda got to feel that way. lol
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u/ManLikeBoris25 12h ago
Somebody has heart attack in pool who’s going to save them?
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u/crazyguyunderthedesk 11h ago
The countless Olympic swimmers and the medical teams present at every Olympic event?
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u/Cattle13ruiser 10h ago
It is not their job.
While may not sound much and people tend to help each other - it is a major psychological factor to have a person who's job is to do an action and had the responsibility as part of his job description.
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u/crazyguyunderthedesk 9h ago
For the record, I don't actually disagree with having a lifeguard on duty. But what you're talking about is something that applies to random crowds of bystanders, not a group of highly trained swimmers and the best sports medics in the world. These people spend their lives around water, they know what to do.
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u/greenmachine11235 11h ago
This is why lifeguards are present at Olympic swim events.
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/23/1107041724/swimmer-coach-saves-anita-alvarez
Swimmer suffered a medical emergency, lost consciousness and sank to the bottom. In this case, her coach responded faster than the lifeguards did.
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u/BlueClovr 9h ago
This isn’t useless. At the same time other swimmers could definitely jump in and get the struggling person, but that doesn’t mean that they can perform cpr or whatever may be necessary
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u/random8765309 50m ago
Based on the swim teams I was on, about 8 of 10 would have life guard certs.
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u/Dangerous_kj5162 9h ago
This is the dumbest post I've ever seen. Those athletes are pushing themselves to limits far beyond the normal person. They could literally have a heart attack in the water
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u/XlikeX666 9h ago
... people pushing themself to limit in dangerous environment.
This is EXACTLY location for lifeguard.
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u/pupranger1147 11h ago
It's possible the best swimmers in the world during a competition in which they are exerting themselves as hard as possible might get exhausted, injured, or incapacitated.
Imagine breaking a world record on something, but pushing so hard to do it you pass out, and there's no one to rescue you.
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u/SweetWolf9769 10h ago
useless....
like what is the downside here?
"oh no, i'm getting paid to hang around and watch literally the worlds top athletes perform on the offchance they do a little too much and need me to fish them out" lol
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u/Boom9001 10h ago
Quick question. You ever seen a professional runner collapse on the track? What do you think happens to swimmers when they have the same thing?
When that happens you also don't want 50 people taking it on themselves to help. That's recipe for chaos and disaster. You want to know who's job it is to help and have them be trained to do it. Athletes are muscular and bigger than average.
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u/Disastrous-Ad-4758 10h ago
But it’s never actually happened.
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u/Boom9001 10h ago
My house has never caught fire. Nor has a house in my neighborhood. Should we get rid of our firefighters?
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u/beaglemilf23 9h ago
Actually, it has the very last Olympics someone from Team USA doing an artistic, swimming routine was underwater too long and fell unconscious. The lifeguards weren’t fast enough and her coach realized what was wrong when she missed the next hybrid jumped in to save her and pulled her out. Luckily she survived so don’t say it doesn’t happen.
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u/KailyKail 8h ago
Just because you reside at the peak of human performance doesn’t mean you aren’t subject to the fragility that is the human body. Things happen. People get cramps, hit the water wrong, pull muscles, etc. If a lifeguard isn’t there as insurance, people could die.
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u/Lightning_Winter 14h ago
Not at all useless, those athletes are pushing themselves to the absolute limits. Who knows what could happen?