Olympic moment of the day: Cap-catching lifeguard steals the swimming show

They say in sports to expect the unexpected.

But really, who could have expected a lifeguard in a bright, multi-colored, very small swimsuit to jump into the pool at La Défense Arena on Sunday in front of 15,000 people – and be hailed as a hero.

When American swimmer Emma Weber lost one of her swim caps in the pool, someone needed to fish it out. And it was up to the aforementioned hero lifeguard to plunge into the pool in front of thousands of fans to do the retrieval.

To huge cheers from the crowd, the lifeguard dove into the pool and picked up the cap at the bottom. After a quick swim to the edge of the pool, he pulled himself out – and allowed himself a wave to his new flock of adoring fans.

This situation is common at swimming competitions,” a Paris 2024 spokesperson told CNN. “As the lifeguards are the only people wearing swimwear, apart from the athletes, a request may be made to fetch an item at the bottom of the pool prior to the next race. In this case, the request was made to the lifeguard closest to the item.”

The lifeguard declined to allow his name to be reported, the spokesperson said, in order to keep his attention on his duties for the rest of the competition.

Deemed “Bob the Cap Catcher” by NBC’s commentary crew, it was a moment of levity at one of the most pressure-packed venues at these Games. The atmosphere at La Défense Arena has been intense for the last two days of competitions, with many of the competitors remarking on the volume of cheers from the Paris crowd.

It’s one of the great questions of every Olympics: What would it look like if the average human were to be in the same competition as these incredible athletes?

For a brief moment on Sunday, we had a look of what that might be like. And it was glorious.