An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships. Different size regulations apply for other pool-based events, such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo. Less onerous breadth and depth regulations exist for lesser swimming competitions, but any "long course" event requires a course length of 50 metres (164 ft 0.5 in), as distinct from "short course" which applies to competitions in pools that are 25 metres (82 ft 0 in) in length (or 75 feet (22.9 m) in the United States). If touch pads are used in competition, then the distance is relative to the touch pads at either end of the course, so that the pool itself is generally oversized to allow for the width of the pads.
An Olympic-size swimming pool is used as a colloquial unit of volume, to make approximate comparisons to similarly sized objects or volumes. It is not a specific definition, as there is no maximum limit on the depth of an Olympic pool. The value has an order of magnitude of 1 megaliter (ML). [1] Some style guides caution against the hyperbole of describing any relatively large pool as "Olympic-size[d]". [2]
World Aquatics specifications for an Olympic-size pool are as follows:
Physical property | Specified value |
---|---|
Length | 50 m (164 ft 1 in) [3] |
Width | 25 m (82 ft 0 in) [3] |
Depth | 2 m (6 ft 7 in) minimum, 3 m (9 ft 10 in) recommended when using the pool for multi discipline. [3] |
Number of lanes | 10 |
Lane width | 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) |
Water temperature | 25–28 °C (77–82 °F) |
Light intensity | minimum 1500 lux (140 footcandles) |
Volume | 2,500,000 L (2,500 m3; 660,000 US gal), assuming a nominal depth of 2 m. About 2 acre-feet. |
There must be two spaces 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) wide outside lanes 1 and 8 (in effect, two empty lanes). [3] The length of 50 metres (164 ft) must be between the touch pads at the end of each lane, if they are used. [3] If starting blocks are used, then there must be a minimum depth of 1.35 metres (4.4 ft) from between 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) from the end of the pool to at least 6 metres (19 ft 8 in) from the end of the pool. At all other points, the minimum depth is 1 metre (3 ft 3 in). [3] If the pool is used for Olympic Games or World Championships, then the minimum depth is increased to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). [3] Whereas the Water Cube pool used for the 2008 Olympics was 3 metres (9 ft 10 in) deep, the temporary pool used in 2024 was only 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in), which commentators suggested made for slower race times. [4]
At FINA's 2009 Congress, rules were approved for 10-lane courses for competition, as an alternative to the more traditional 8-lane course.
This version of the Olympic-sized swimming pool debuted in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Beforehand, the Summer Olympics featured the more traditional 8-lane course with a depth of roughly seven feet, [5] now the minimum depth requirement. Twenty-five world records were broken at this pool, although this is more heavily attributed to the polyurethane “supersuits” worn by many competitors (banned by FINA in 2010).
The new Olympic-sized swimming pool was designed to provide advantages to competitors. Increasing the lane count from eight to ten introduces a "buffer lane", helping to absorb waves generated by movements of the swimmers. [5] The increased depth of the pool assists the lane lines in dissipating water churn, thereby creating less hydrodynamic drag. [5]
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The James E. Martin Aquatics Center is a swimming complex on the Auburn University campus in Auburn, Alabama. It is the home pool of the Auburn University and Auburn High School swimming and diving programs. The Martin Aquatics Center has hosted the NCAA Men's (1998) and Women's (2003) Swimming and Diving Championships, as well as the US Open in 1995, 2000, and 2005. In 2002, Sports Illustrated rated the Martin Aquatics Center indoor pool the third-fastest pool in the United States.
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground or built above ground, and may be found as a feature aboard ocean-liners and cruise ships. In-ground pools are most commonly constructed from materials such as concrete, natural stone, metal, plastic, composite or fiberglass, and can be of a custom size and shape or built to a standardized size, the largest of which is the Olympic-size swimming pool.
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water. Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, with varied distance events in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and individual medley. In addition to these individual events, four swimmers can take part in either a freestyle or medley relay. A medley relay consists of four swimmers who will each swim a different stroke, ordered as backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
Freestyle is a category of swimming competition, defined by the rules of World Aquatics, in which competitors are subject to only a few limited restrictions on their swimming stroke. Freestyle races are the most common of all swimming competitions, with distances beginning with 50 meters and reaching 1,500 meters, also known as the mile. The term 'freestyle stroke' is sometimes used as a synonym for 'front crawl', as front crawl is the fastest surface swimming stroke. It is now the most common stroke used in freestyle competitions.
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Almost no-one owns a private pool that large, so the description in respect to private pools is almost always a gross exaggeration.