Rio de Janeiro: Josue Ribeiro es dos Santos, a mototaxi driver with a month and a half of training, will keep a watchful eye on the world's best as one of the lifeguards on duty at the Rio Olympic swimming pool.
A Rio de Janeiro law passed in 2001 requires that all residential, hotel and sports club swimming pools have permanent lifeguards.
That includes the Olympic Aquatic Stadium in the Barra Olympic Park, where 18-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps and company kick off eight days of competition on Saturday.
As the likes of world record-holders Katie Ledecky, Ryan Lochte, Cate Campbell and Sun Yang battle for gold, Ribeiro will patrol the pool deck in his yellow uniform -- shorts, cap and flipflops and a shirt with "LIFEGUARD" emblazoned in English and Portuguese -- ready to fling his flotation device to any Olympian in distress.
Ribeiro completed a lifeguard course lasting just six weeks when previously training as a firefighter.
"Thank God they hired me," he said.
The Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported that 78 lifeguards were hired at a salary of 1,500 reales (about $470) to patrol the seven pools in use at the Games -- including competition and training facilities.
- Always alert -
Josue, who has worked as a lifeguard for six years at various pools, is currently driving a mototaxi in Guaratiba, a popular neighbourhood some 27km west of the Barra Olympic Park.
It takes him about an hour to get to Barra each day.
Once there, the reality is that he has little to do.
He ambles up and down the pool deck, watching the athletes swim up and down and listening to coaches whistle or issue instructions in languages he doesn't understand.
From time to time he stops to converse with a colleague, or help reinstall a lane line or pick up a poster.
Although he agrees that the chance of an Olympic swimmer drowning is virtually nil, he says he never lets down his guard.
"We must be always active because they may feel some cramping or sink. We are there to help them. If there is a problem, I am the first who is there," he said, adding his procedure in such an emergency is "jump, take them out of the pool and wait for the ambulance."
And so far has any incident occurred?
"Thank God, no!" he said with fervour.
The most famous accident in an Olympic pool came in Seoul in 1988, when American Greg Louganis hit his head on the springboard.
He emerged from the pool without assistance and recovered to retain his springboard and platform titles.
With a view that beats the one offered by some of the most sought-after tickets of the Games, Ribeiro and his colleagues are the envy of many.
But for him mingling with the sport's stars is just another day at work.
"The truth is that I don't know them," he said. "Some of the Brazilians maybe, Thiago Pereira. But I haven't seen him."
AFP
