The resurrection of the waitering race after a 13-year hiatus is part of Paris’ efforts to bask in the Olympic spotlight and put its best foot forward for its first Summer Games in 100 years.

Van Wymeersch, the runaway winner in the women’s category in 14 minutes, 12 seconds, started waitering at age 16, is now 34 and said she cannot envisage any other life for herself.

I worry because they don’t have the normal fallback positions of bartending and waitering anymore.

Each of these is an occupational hazard of waitering.

It happened to people I knew, and they quit waitering, but it never happened to me.