Swimming. State of infrastructure, increase in drownings... Alain Bernard and Florent Manaudou sound the alarm

A call to save French swimming pools. In an op-ed published this Saturday in Le Parisien , swimmers Alain Bernard and Florent Manaudou are sounding the alarm. The two Olympic champions are calling for a real "pool plan" to renovate and build swimming pools in France.

The two athletes are warning about the state of aquatic infrastructure. They point out that, in 2025, French swimming pools will have an average age of 40 years and that 40% of aquatic centers were built before 1975. "Swimming pools have become energy sieves," they also write.

The cost of maintaining pools is a burden for local authorities. As a result, some municipalities are reducing opening hours, while others are simply closing their facilities.

And this has serious consequences for children. Swimmers cite a June 2025 SNEP-FSU survey, which shows that 15% of schools do not have access to a swimming pool.

"This represents 500,000 students, even though teaching all students to swim is a national priority, included in the common core of knowledge and skills of the Ministry of National Education," the article reads.

In their text, the two champions also emphasize a central point: the worrying rise in drownings. Compared to the same period in 2023, they observe a worrying increase in drownings of 41% for the period from July 16 to August 15, 2024, compared to the same period in 2023, based on data from Public Health France. "Children under 6 years old account for 29% of drownings," they note.

Alain Bernard and Florent Manaudou hope to see a "new impetus" in 2025. "It is devastating to see in 2025, the day after the excellent results of French swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (OPG), that the situation of swimming pools in France is the same as in the 1970s," they write.

"It's not about financing luxury or expensive facilities," they warn, but about building simple, functional pools geared toward learning. And the money is there, the two champions note: "The Olympic Games generated a surplus of 75 million euros."

Part of this sum could be allocated to the fight against drowning and to swimming training, they say. They conclude: "This would be one of the greatest legacies of the Olympic Games. Tomorrow's champions are learning to swim in our pools."