An In-depth look at the Olympic swims of Paris
We are only on the second day of Olympic swimming events in Paris, but one thing is clear. In these Games, it is more about racing than setting records. It is likely we won’t see a single world record broken in Paris. So why are we not seeing faster times in such a beautiful natatorium?
Simple answer. The pool is not deep enough. The pool was constructed at a depth of seven feet (2.16 meters), which is simply not deep enough to see the fastest swims possible.
With a shallower pool, all the waves, vortices and streams caused by the powerful swimmers churning down the lanes either get dissipated by the lane lines, overflow onto the gutters on the sides, or reflect off the bottom of the pool. The latter contribute to the surface turbulence. The more turbulence or waves on the surface, the slower the swimmers go.
I recall while doing my Residency in Ophthalmology in Indianapolis, I was asked to give advice on the plans for construction of the pool at IUPUI. They were planning on making the depth of the competition pool seven feet.
Make it nine feet, I suggested. It will be faster.
So they did. The difference between a 9-feet depth and a 7-feet depth pool is significant. The additional cost of constructing a pool two feet deeper or maintaining it two feet deeper is not significant, given the cost of most natatoriums. The pools at IUPUI and the pool at University of Texas in Austin (9-feet depth) are considered to be the fastest pools in the country. The Myrtha pool constructed for the US Olympic Trials in Indianapolis was set at 9-feet depth. The Trials this year were noticeably faster than the previous Trials held in Omaha in a 7-feet depth Myrtha pool.
One of the fastest pools in history was the Olympic pool of the LA Coliseum, which was 9 feet deep in the shallow end and 17 feet deep in the deep end. I believe more world records were set in that pool than in any other pool in history.
Why the Paris organizers did not add two more feet of depth to their Olympic pool, I have no idea. Just watch the replay of the men’s 4 x 100 free relay. The surface waves were obvious and adversely affected all the swimmers. Same in all the other events.
Regardless of records not being broken, we will still see some exciting races in Paris. In the end, all records will be broken, but the medals of the Olympic Games can never be taken away.
Yours in Swimming,
Gary Sr