In a scene straight out of Seurat, Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon has gone viral after being spotted napping in the park inside the grounds of the Olympic village by Saudi rower Husein Alireza.
Alireza posted a video of Ceccon napping with the caption “Rest today, conquer tomorrow” and a screencap of the moment was picked up by Reddit on several forums and has tens-of-thousands of likes.
The circulating sentiment of the photo was that Ceccon is one of a number of Olympic athletes who have complained about conditions in the Olympic Village, including the lack of air conditioning. He said that tiredness was taking a toll on him midway through the meet. Ceccon himself has not cited that as the reason for napping in the park.
The video was posted around 11:30PM French time on Saturday, but the sun was still up, meaning the timing of the video was unclear. On Saturday morning, he swam 53.56 on the leadoff leg of the Italian men’s 400 medley relay that placed 9th in prelims and didn’t advanced, which ended his Olympic competition. He swam 52.00 to win the individual 100 back earlier in the meet.
Ceccon also won a bronze medal early in the meet by splitting 47.44 on the 2nd leg of Italy’s men’s 400 free relay.
Temperatures in Paris have cooled considerably in the last few days. Highs on Sunday are only 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25C), down considerably from highs of 96 F (35C) earlier in the week. Temperatures overnight are dipping into the 50s Fahrenheit.
somebody get this homeless Italian man of the streets of Paris, he’s ruining our Olympics
Probably so much better than the cardboard beds
Q: Sufficient food in the village?
A: Non.
Q: Air conditioning to help the athletes sleep?
A: Non.
Q: French athletes staying in the village?
A: Haha, non.
Q: Expensive light show at the pool?
A: Mais oui.
Marchand stayed off village in a nice apartment with AC and comfy beds.
Maybe it’s the ploy all along
He just like me fr
Just makes me want to get out there and rake those leaves-without waking him of course-
Who doesn’t love Ceccon he’s such a funny guy
Trying to escape his admirers after the countless Hot Swimmer reels.
Oh god! My mom, who turned 70 on Tuesday was all: “Who was that guy I saw earlier on TV? You know… the guy who looks soooo Italian! The one with the bedroom eyes” Me: “uh… Ceccon?” She: “Yes! He’s so dreamy!”
I’m almost 38, haven’t felt that close to being an embarrassed-by-my-mom-teen in a minute 😀
Italian male swimmers are so 🌶️♨️😍🥰
There are definitely broader implications that are worthy of note, but I’ve gotta say “Swimmer takes nap in a park” is not something that I ever thought would garner a dedicated SwimSwam article