David Duchovny Is Lending His Pool to Paralympic Swimmer to Train During COVID-19 Shutdowns

Friedemann Vogel/Getty; Matthew Eisman/Getty Rudy Garcia-Tolson (left) and David Duchovny

The coronavirus pandemic has forced many athletes to find unique ways to stay in shape while training facilities are shut down due to public health measures — and at least one celebrity is lending a helping hand during the situation.

In a new piece for the New York Times, five-time Paralympic medalist Rudy Garcia-Tolson reveals that Californication star David Duchovny has been allowing him to use his home's pool to train.

Garcia-Tolson, 31, said that in early July — after reading a previous Times article about the athlete's efforts to find a place to train — a rep for Duchovny reached out on Instagram.

"[The message] was from a woman who said she worked with the actor David Duchovny, telling me to get in touch with her about finding a pool to train in," the swimmer explained. "She gave me his number and told me to reach out. When I did, he told me he had a 25-meter, one-lane pool in his backyard. I was welcome to use it whenever I wanted. I just needed to give him a little notice."

And so the Paralympian — who was born with popliteal pterygium syndrome and is a double above-knee amputee — took him up on the offer. He's used Duchovny's pool 12 times, sometimes chatting with the star, 60, but often just getting straight to business.

Interestingly enough, Duchovny and Garcia-Tolson's paths had crossed before, at the Malibu Triathalon when the latter was a child, according to the piece.

Garcia-Tolson said in the Times that prior to the actor's offer, he had been stuck swimming and surfing in the ocean to practice with most public pools near his California home closed. The athlete is attempting to come out of retirement so he can make the United States Paralympic team.

With the pool access, he's able to better focus on his training.

"For now, I am going to keep doing what I am doing," said Garcia-Tolson. "I’ve got so much more experience. It’s going to come. It’s a process. In two weeks I will bump the training up to five or six times a week."

He continued in the Times piece: "I’ve got so much more perspective now. I’m really doing this for myself."