Ottawa father-daughter duo, longtime rec leader set to lifeguard at Olympics

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The irony of lifeguarding at the Olympics has already been pointed out to John Rapp a few times since he received the news that he’ll be taking on the job later this month. However, the longtime recreation leader says it’s an important role and one he’s looking forward to filling.

Rapp, the former executive director of Ottawa’s Dovercourt Recreation Centre, is one of three Ottawa lifeguards travelling to Paris. Stéphane and Karianne Cliche, a father-daughter duo based in Orléans, are also making their way to the Games, as is Vincent Poulin of Chelsea.

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According to 19-year-old Karianne Cliche, around 800 people applied for the volunteer gig under the Lifesaving Society’s Quebec branch. Of those, 12 were selected: three from Ontario and the rest from Quebec.

Since applying about a month ago, Stéphane Cliche and his daughter have had to write several tests. Upon their arrival in Paris this coming weekend, they’ll undergo a week of training and write a final written exam on Friday to ensure they meet French standards.

“Basically, we have to go through the National Lifeguard course that we’ve gone through here in Canada, plus the update to their standards,” Stéphane said, adding he believed it would be a “momentous experience” to share with his daughter.

Karianne said the group was “kinda getting thrown into” the experience, unsure where or when they’ll be lifeguarding during the Games.

“I think that’s what’s gonna make it even cooler because one day you might be guarding in La Seine,” she said. “You might be guarding swimming and the other day you might be guarding diving.”

The Associated Press reported that French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra swam in the Seine on Saturday “in a bid to ease concerns about water quality before the start of the Paris Olympics.”

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The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games is expected to take place in boats travelling along the Seine, with the marathon swimming events and the swimming portion of the triathlon also taking place on the famed waterway.

According to Cliche, 350 lifeguards will be working at the Olympics, with about 300 of them from France.

Like the Cliches, Rapp is excited about the upcoming adventure. While he has heard many jokes about the necessity of lifeguards at the Olympics, Rapp says serious accidents have still occurred on the world stage.

“There’s no question lifeguards need to be there,” Rapp said. “These are people pushing themselves to the limits of human endurance.”

Since his first summer job as a lifeguard at Brewer Pool in 1975, Rapp has worked as the boss of several City of Ottawa pools and as the city’s acting director of aquatics. He also did a stint in Australia as CEO of the Australian Water Safety Education Center before returning to Ottawa to work at Dovercourt for 30 years. He now lifeguards and teaches masters national lifeguard courses.

Despite widespread concerns about the water quality in the Seine, Rapp says that’s not something lifeguards worry about during a rescue.

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“The moment that happens, the training kicks in and you’re just gone. You’re not thinking about, ‘Oh, this is icky water,’” Rapp said. “You’re gonna get them as quickly as you can.”

Having lifeguarded swim meets at local and provincial levels, Rapp says lifeguards need to be “tuned in at every level,” noticing what they see, smell and hear.

“Once they hit the water, you’re gonna be watching where they’re going, how they’re doing and, strangely, the people you pay attention to perhaps the most are those that are behind,” Rapp said. “That will be very true in the open water.

“It’s not as important as to who wins as to does everybody complete.”

Having previously been a host at the Canada Pavilion at Expo ’88 in Brisbane, where he ended up helping deliver a baby, Rapp said lifeguarding at the Paris Olympics would be a “really unique opportunity.”

“I would be quite happy to spend the Olympics without having to rescue anyone, but I’ll certainly be ready,” he said.

Rapp is most looking forward to seeing Olympic athletes up close and meeting lifeguards from elsewhere in the world, noting there will also be a contingent of lifeguards from Belgium and Germany.

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“I’m not sure how much cheering I’m going to be allowed to do from the sidelines, but you can bet that there will be a lot of mental energy on pushing Canadian swimmers or rowers or canoeists, or whatever I’m watching, to do well,” Rapp said. “Whether we’re on the Seine in a rescue boat or whether we’re poolside, we’re gonna have to have a great view of what’s going on.”

Stéphane Cliche, who never thought he’d lifeguard past his 21st birthday, has been working in the area “pretty much nonstop” since he was a teenager.

He was previously part of the Ottawa Police Service’s underwater search and recovery dive team, then volunteered at the Canadian Lifesaving Society teaching courses. Now, he works at Collège La Cité, teaching emergency services. He, his wife, Karianne and her younger sister, Zoe, are also part of the safety team for Somersault triathlons.

He got his daughter and her friends together during the COVID-19 pandemic to do a lifeguard training “summer camp,” with Karianne taking the course with the City of Ottawa in 2020. She’s been lifeguarding since then.

“Here I am with my daughter again,” he said. “Now this time I’m not offering to train to her and her friends, we’re doing the training together. It’s going to be an experience we’ll both remember the rest of our lives.”

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Karianne said her dad was “a role model” and she was excited they’d have the “experience of a lifetime” together in Paris. While they were asked to continue for the Paralympics, they have to return to Ottawa for work and university in September.

“I personally would love to see Summer McIntosh swim,” Karianne said of the Canadian medal hopeful. “I’m an ex-competitive swimmer and she’s just such an amazing person.”

Stéphane said he was looking forward to watching the athletes who had been training for so many years. Having participated with the Jeux de la Francophonie’s security and helped plan security for the Vancouver Olympics, sending 150 students from the college to attend, he joked that it was now his turn to experience the Games.

“We’re able to share a small part of this moment with them,” he said. “Hopefully we have nothing to do but just watch them at work, it will be quite impressive.”

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