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Tahiti’s Stephane Debaere

It was fun watching the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials last week, especially since a competitor I coached for a few months during the summer about eight years ago was swimming her little heart out. Entered in three of the freestyle events, she made the semi-finals in each. NBC makes a big deal about what an honor and accomplishment it is to even swim in the Trials, and then promptly disregards those who don’t make the team.

They do the same with their coverage of the Olympics, telling you more than you’d ever want to know about an athlete whose life story provides a big enough tug at the heart strings to qualify for one of their Up Close & Personal segments, and then never mentioning them again if they fail to medal. But so goes life. Even if you place second, you’re still a loser. But then many of the swimmers are in the trials for experience. Their eyes are on the 2016 Olympics, this time around it’s for practice, to get one under their belt before swimming in the meet that really counts in their career.

So it is with Tahiti’s Stephane Debaere, affectionately known as Aquaman in his home country of Tahiti, who swims for the French national team. An accomplished and internationally ranked freestyle sprinter the 22-year-old is one of France’s twelve best 50m freestylists and is frequently mentioned as being in the same league as Alain Bernardand and Frederick Bousquet. He holds the second best French national speed in that event and is routinely one of the top finishers in the 50m breaststroke too.

Since he began swimming competitively in 1995, the Polynesian hunk has primarily competed in French events where he has steadily racked up a bountiful collection of bronze and silver medals. A self-proclaimed perfectionist who is very demanding of himself, Debaere says he considers his 2010 – 2011 season as being “neither bad nor good.” A realist, in preparing for the french selection for the Games in London he stated, “These Olympics may be coming too soon for me. Participating in the Olympics four years from now in Rio de Janeiro seems to be a more realistic goal.“

The French Championships were held in March and, as expected, Debaere did not land a spot on the Olympic team. But he says having the opportunity to swim with Olympic medalists was reward enough this year and is helping him to update and refine his technique as well as his physical and mental conditioning.

While he is preparing himself for the 2016 Olympics, Debaere is making waves outside of the pool, too. As an ambassador for Air Tahiti he routinely makes public appearances on behalf of the airline in his tiny island nation, and his dark, youthful good looks coupled with a swimmer’s build in peak condition has made him the darling of photographers around the world. His face and body are becoming more well-known than his accomplishments in his chosen sport. Justifiably so as you can see from the following shots:

There are enough hotties scheduled to compete in London this year that Debaere’ won’t be missed. But make a note that there will be a real good reason to tune into the coverage of the Rio de Janeiro Games in four years when Debaere gives the world’s best swimmers a run for the money. Looks like he’ll be giving those hunky boys from Brazil some stiff competition too.

[‘The XXX Games’ are a series of posts about hot Olympians, gay competitors – both present and past – and general articles about the 2012 London Olympics of interest to gay men. So, yeah, lots of hot male eye candy. Click the XXX Games graphic below for additional news, stories, and pictures.]

The XXX Games of the Olympiad