PARIS (AFP) - French Olympic swimming hopeful Alain Bernard, who broke three world records and won two titles at the European championships in March, has joined the French military police, the central administration for the national gendarmerie (DGGN) confirmed on Friday.

The 25-year-old Bernard, the world record holder over 100m, will occupy "a special job as a high level sportsman" and will be part of the "gendarmerie's high-level military sports team" in order to continue his preparations for the Beijing Olympics, the DGGN said.

Bernard's exploits at the European championships have set the muscular 1.96m swimmer dubbed "the albatross" by the French media, up as a major contender to become a star of the pool at the Olympics.

He set a new 100m freestyle long course world record in a time of 47.50 seconds. He had already beaten the world record the previous day, finishing in 47.60 seconds in the semi-finals.

He then lowered the 50m freestyle world record to 21.50 but only held the record for four days before being bettered by Australian Eamon Sullivan.

He will compete over 50m and 100m freestyle in Beijing.

Gendarmes in France are paramilitary personnel who carry out police duties among the civilian population.

Some 90 positions are reserved in the armed forces for top level sports stars, of which 18 are in the gendarmerie, which allows athletes to continue their sporting careers in the best conditions.