Paris Swimming Pool Depth Raises First Concerns Of 2024 Olympic Games

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
  • Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
• La Défense Arena – Paris, France
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Full Schedule
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Swimming and waterpolo events at the 2024 Paris Olympics will be held The Paris La Défense Arena, a multisport arena located in Nanterre.

The opening was first expected in 2014 but the facility was not opened until October 2017. Initially the facility was named U Arena, the latter was changed to the current one in spring 2018.

The arena underwent a colossal change, including the structural part, to make room for the two 50-meter pools and the facilities of TVs from around the world.

The installation of the two temporary pools inside La Défense Arena has been entrusted to the Italian company Piscine Castiglione, who owns the brand Myrtha Pools. After Atlanta, Beijing, London, Rio, and Tokyo, this is the sixth Olympics in which the Italian company signed the Olympic pools.

In Paris, it has created a total of 24 pools For Paris 2024, including competition pools, warm-up pools, and Olympic training centers built in areas that lacked them on the outskirts of the city.

The pool where the swimming events will take place in just under two days has been the subject of controversy in recent days .

The World Acquatics regulations stipulate a minimum depth of two meters for the pool used for the Olympic Games. However at the rule FR 2.2.4 states:

Depth: 2 Metres (minimum); 3 metres recommended, when using the pool for multi disciplines
i.e. Artistic Swimming.

According to the French LeParisien , the two 50 m Olympic pools at the Arena Paris La Défense in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) offer a depth of 2.15 meters (about 7 feet, 1/2 inch).

The depth is about 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) less than the pool at the 2020(1) Tokyo Olympics.

Artistic swimming, where pool depth becomes even more vital, is being held in the newly-built Paris Aquatic Center.

Three years ago, it was Korea’s Hwang Sunwoo who raised the issue of the pool’s depth.

At that juncture, Hwang complained that the pool was about a meter deeper than where he was used to competing.

From the SwimSwam article “What Makes a Pool Fast ” published in the past, we know that water depth may be the main factor in making a pool fast.

Some swimmers training today at La Defense also reported to SwimSwam that the side lanes have a step of about 10 centimeters, which further reduces the depth of the pool – though the outside lanes of the 10-lane pool will only be used in prelims.

There are two critical considerations when managing the water depth of a pool: scientifically producing a fast pool and psychologically producing a fast pool.

Scientifically speaking, the greater the water depth, the faster the pool. In a shallow pool, waves “bounce” or reflect off the bottom of the pool, causing the entire pool to become more turbulent or “wavy.” Calmer water generally creates a faster pool (unless you’re drafting).

The additional water in a deeper pool acts as a calming force to lessen the impact of the wave (or makes it smaller).