The theories over the Olympic pool being shallow and slowing down swimmers, explained
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. This is FTW Explains: The Olympics.
There’s a lot of buzz about the depth of the pool at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which you might think doesn’t make a difference for swimmers.
Turns out that might not be the case, and there’s some reporting indicating that it’s slowing swimmers down, which in turn means we may not see some world records broken, although it’s worth noting that everyone is swimming in the same pool so it’s not giving anyone a disadvantage.
Let’s dive in (pun slightly intended).
What’s the problem with the depth of the pool?
The Wall Street Journal reported the the depth of the Olympic pool is usually around three meters.
This time? It’s 2.2 meters. And that definitely makes a difference.
How does a more shallow pool make swimming slower at the Olympics?
More from WSJ:
To understand why that matters, it’s important to remember that swimming isn’t just a dynamic exercise. It’s also an exercise in fluid dynamics. Every movement swimmers make with their hands and feet creates small waves that rebound off the bottom of the pool.
No movement has more potential for waves than swimmers’ initial dive into the water. The shallower the pool, the more those waves ricochet back to the swimmers on the surface, creating a more turbulent aquatic environment that isn’t conducive to top speeds.
Whoa. So does this affect races?
No. Like I said, everyone’s in the same pool. Or, take it from Canada star Summer McIntosh, via Yahoo Sports:
“I mean, the pool’s 50 meters, and it’s 10 lanes,” Canada’s Summer McIntosh, the favorite in Monday’s women’s 400 IM, said. “It’s an Olympic pool. I don’t think any Olympic pool should really be called slow. No matter what, everybody’s racing in the same pool. Doesn’t matter if it’s the fastest pool in the world, slowest pool in the world — I have the same goals.”
Oh, OK. So it just might mean no world records are broken?
We’ll see. As of publishing this, there are still plenty of events to go, so that might be the case. Stay tuned.