"The height of freedom is to be able to go swimming!
For Clara, aka the Parisian swimmer, the swimming pool is the ultimate place to disconnect from the city and reconcile with its users. In this interview with Egis, she explains why.
The city to the rhythm of the waves
Published 12.03.24
3 mins read
Hello Clara. We only know you under the pseudonym "Parisian swimmer"? Who are you really?
I'm an editor, but first and foremost I'm a great swimmer. I love water in all its forms. It's not surprising, I'm a Cancer (laughs), I know it's a bit big! The Parisian swimmer's Instagram account helped me get over the impostor syndrome, because I didn't really see myself as a competitive swimmer or very Parisian. It took me a long time to find my place in the capital - I'm originally from the north of France, but I've lived there for 12 years - and the pool helped me do that.
All the more so because the most welcoming pools are in nice neighbourhoods, don't you think?
I think so.
But back to the point. You said that you've been able to put down roots in Paris thanks to the pool. Is that because you've made an institution your own?
I'd put it a bit differently. I used to be very shy. After a break-up, I started swimming a lot, as if I needed to savour my new-found freedom, in this case at the Cour des Lions swimming pool in the 11th arrondissement. Today, for me, the height of freedom is being able to go swimming. In the evening after work, on Saturday mornings, even after a long night out. It may seem counterintuitive, but I happen to feel very comfortable in a swimming pool. I know most people are afraid to meet someone they know, but I'm not. It's the place where I feel most comfortable. I'd like to have my business meetings at the pool. I'd even go so far as to say that the ideal place would be the boot removal area after a swim!
Have you heard any rumours in this area?
That's what I like best. At the pool, I listen, watch and take in everything around me. It's a shared, communal space where you can be intimate without necessarily knowing anything about your neighbours. Mostly we hear rumours about the pool, that the water temperature in the main pool is higher than usual because the pool is for kindergarteners, or people wondering why the pool was closed last week. We chat without pushing the conversation too far, without trying to find out who we're talking to. We also share the pleasure of getting into the water.
But who's hiding under the swimmer's hat in lane 2?
Clara, aka @nageuseparisienne, is a swimming enthusiast who shares her love of the water in an imaginative Instagram account. Focusing on the origins of Parisian pools and the great swimmers of the past, this anonymous siren's account is a goldmine of aesthetics and information about the star hours of swimming. Today, @nageuseparisienne rallies no less than 6,800 swimmers to its aquatic cause.
What do you think makes a peaceful city?
In a swimming pool, you're cut off from everything that's part of your daily life, starting with your phone, which stays in your locker. Sometimes you don't even get a signal! It's something rare and therefore precious. That's what creates an exchange in the rooms. We're also undressed. In fact, you become someone else, a kind of anonymous swimmer. This explains why I wanted to remain anonymous on my Instagram account. That's the thing about the pool: you suddenly become a different colour of bathing cap, and that creates a new identity. Often, when I put my clothes back on, I can't make the connection between the swimmer and the person. It's like shedding your skin, your social disguise. You can choose to interact with others or not. You have to learn to share the water with people you don't know, it's not so common. The lifeguards don't intervene much and it's up to the swimmers to observe what's going on around them, to adapt their behaviour in the swim lines, as if they were in the most rudimentary dimension of society. It resets the counter. Sharing this swimming space requires a lot of attention because you have to be very careful of others. As for me, I'm not looking for an empty pool at any price. It's not something I dream of. Of course, I like it when the pool is not crowded - it's obviously very comfortable to swim in - but I like to share it with others.
But isn't that tantamount to saying that the pool is a kind of sanctuary for the city? Wouldn't we be falling into the trap of a city that is peaceful but idealised?
I don't think so. What I like about a pool is that it's a pool. My favourite pool is in Belleville, the Alfred Nakache pool, in a very lively neighbourhood that I like very much; and when I need to get away from it all, to isolate myself, I go to the pool. I'd say I use the pool as a sanctuary. The experience of the pool is very subjective. Some people will come out of a swimming session annoyed because they've had an argument with a neighbour in the corridor, whereas I'll enjoy it. The success of the experience depends on what you want to get out of it. I think that makes it all the more valuable and worthwhile.
A lot of people don't like swimming pools because they're too noisy or dirty. After all, you're quite iconoclastic in your love of the pool. Why do some people feel that swimming pools are not such a calming place?
I think it's a childhood trauma (laughs)! Not everyone is comfortable with water, or with being half-naked. In fact, many of my subscribers have told me about traumatic experiences, with violent dives into the water or poor hygiene. I'm not trying to evangelise; everyone is free to find the wellness space that suits them!
And yet, with your Instagram account, don't you want to heal souls in your own way, to share your passion?
I felt more like sharing my passion than passing it on. Because I'm very attached to some of the pools I visit, I thought I shouldn't be the only one to feel that attachment. If it's a place that makes me feel good, that feeling inevitably rubs off on the place itself. That's how I came to tell the story of swimming pools on my Instagram account and to be interested in their architecture. If I feel comfortable there, it's because the building has been carefully thought out. Another point is that pools act as memories: people are generally very attached to their pools and have very clear memories of them. Some even learned to swim in them. Mind you, my message is not to tell people to "go and swim".
Isn't there something antinomic between the swimming pool, a symbol of a peaceful city, on the one hand, and the pursuit of time on the other?
I don't time myself; what counts for me is the pleasure of bathing. On the other hand, it gives me pleasure to see people time themselves. Everyone has their own relationship with the pool. Who am I to say who's a good swimmer and who's not? It doesn't matter if someone is treading water or splashing around in the pool: you have to accept the diversity of swimmers. My ambition is to tell the story of this sociological spectrum on my Instagram account.
Is the pool you describe so peaceful on a human level?
No, there's also a lot of tension. Above all, the pool reveals personalities. If someone starts swimming a showy butterfly in the middle of the corridor, I'm looking for a look of complicity with which I can laugh at the situation. I'm not looking for conflict, I'm looking for endorphins!
How exactly does swimming make you feel?
As an editor, I know that swimming allows me to unblock some of the textual difficulties I sometimes face. This is only possible with breaststroke. In front crawl, you have to concentrate on your movements. My brain goes on autopilot and starts writing sentences on its own.
I was going to get to that, but what's the connection between publishing and swimming pools?
I'm passionate about what I do. It's funny, but I used to have a real problem with my writing - I thought I wrote badly. It wasn't until I started writing about swimming pools on my Instagram account that I discovered I loved it. Swimming liberated my writing. My brain does incredible things when I swim. It's like the water channels my ideas. Nowadays it's impossible to separate writing from swimming.
How do you see the future of swimming pools? Will the Paris swimming pools of tomorrow still be oases of calm?
I think so. There's no doubt that swimming pools will continue to be these timeless bubbles. From this point of view, the announced construction of new pools as part of the city's "Swimming in Paris" plan will help to relieve congestion in Parisian pools, which, let's face it, are very busy. And tomorrow, who knows, maybe we'll be swimming in the Seine!
