Olympic Swimming Pool Lifeguard Understandably Bored at Work

A picture of an Olympics swimming pool lifeguard has “gone viral.” The picture was originally published by the New York Times on August 4th in an article about Olympic lifeguards, but it was posted on the NYT Instagram account on Sunday morning and now everyone is pointing out how silly that seems. I mean, what do the best swimmers in the world need a lifeguard for, am I right?

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You know who has the most useless job in Rio? A lifeguard. That’s right: At the #Olympic swimming pool, where the world’s best swimmers are never more than a few strokes from the pool wall and always within reach of a buoyant lane marker, lifeguards are watching. They have what is probably the best view in the house, as they’re among the few people permitted on the pool deck. 75 lifeguards are hired to work at the Olympic sites and training centers. In some cases, the reasons are obvious. Water polo can get ruggedly physical. Synchronized swimming is a surprisingly frequent source of sports concussions. Divers risk smacking the water. But do events like the 50-meter sprint and the breaststroke need a lifeguard or 2? The answer is yes. (Just in case someone like @m_phelps00, who has 18 gold medals, needs rescuing.) On Monday, @nytmills captured this #lifeguard watching Olympians practice. Visit the link in our profile to read the full story, by @johnbranchnyt. #ReportingFromRio

A post shared by The New York Times (@nytimes) on Aug 7, 2016 at 7:39am PDT

According to the New York Times, there are around 75 lifeguards working the Olympics. Only 8 of them are required for the swimming events.

"Four of them — two at the competition pool, two at the training pool — work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The other four then take their places and work until training ends at midnight. They are paid 1,100 reais (about $340) for about 20 days of work."

So, no, they aren’t getting rich.