I brought this up on fb, but I'm doing it again here because a) we never reached a satisfactory answer, and b) more people will see it here and maybe the mystery will be solved. I can't believe more people aren't talking about THIS:
A closer look:
Still closer:
The context: my family and I watched pretty much every Olympic swimming race there was. We never, ever spotted this guy in a box under the water. Then came the women's 4x200 relay. And there he was.
Who is he? Why is he there? Why do we get to hear the answers about why divers go in hot tubs, or why the USA women's gymnastics team wore their hair in slicked-back ponytails, but not why the heck there is a guy in a box under the pool during the women's 4x200 relay?
Some possible explanations:
1. He is a turn judge. BUT NO: from this vantage point, he can't really see the swimmers when they turn.
2. He is some kind of photographer. BUT NO: he can't even maneuver himself into a comfortable shooting position in that cramped space. Also, he doesn't appear to have a camera.
3. He is there to alert the medics in case one of the swimmers starts to drown.
4. He is there to operate the underwater cameras.
5. He is some kind of stroke judge. I don't know enough about this to know if that's feasible.
I think explanation #4 is the most likely. But it's still weird, because it's such a cramped space, and he wasn't there for every race, just the women's 4x200 relay.
WHO IS THIS GUY??