- Paris Olympic pool targeted by stars
- Many swimmers have claimed that the pool is not deep enough.
- Blamed for lack of world records at the Games
As the debate over the alleged ‘slow pool’ at the Paris Olympics continues, it can now be revealed that swimming stars from around the world almost had another reason to complain recently.
According to several sources close to the pool, a security guard pressed the wrong button one night while leaving the venue before the Games which begin on July 27, causing so much water to drain out that the pool level dropped by 10 to 12 cm.
The next day the pool had to be refilled with water chemicals. Fairfax Media reported.
Although that crisis was averted, many swimmers remain convinced that the pool at La Defense Arena is too shallow.
World records have been few and far between, with China’s Pan Zhanle being the notable exception.
He clocked a blistering 46.40 in the 100m freestyle to take gold on Thursday (AEST), finishing ahead of Australia’s Kyle Chalmers.
While Zhanle has found his place in the record books, other swimmers have insisted the pool is not up to par.
“It’s got to be a slow pool, right?” Chalmers said.
As the debate over the “slow pool” at the Paris Olympics continues, swimming stars from around the world almost had another reason to complain recently following an incident involving a security guard (pictured, France’s Leon Marchand)
Australian pool queen Ariarne Titmus (right) won the 400m freestyle final but fell well short of her own world record.
Mollie O’Callaghan (right) and Ariarne Titmus took gold and silver in the 200m freestyle final, in what many have described as a “slow pool”.
“(In saying that) the important thing is to win that race in the pool. Everyone has the same opportunities. Everyone has a lane.”
This comes after Games organisers installed a temporary 2.15-metre-deep tank for the swimming programme, which meets the required minimum depth of two metres.
However, it is far from the three-metre standard of the last four Games.
Australian swimming legend Giaan Rooney, who won gold and set a world record as part of Australia’s 4x100m medley team at the 2004 Athens Olympics, disagreed with the consensus that the pool is slow.
“It’s the enormity and pressure of the Olympics, so suddenly athletes aren’t swimming for a while – we haven’t seen world records broken here,” he told radio station Nova 96.9 FM.
Rooney had a supporter in American swimming legend Katie Ledecky.
“I’ve heard the rumors, but at the end of the day, we’re here to compete,” he said.
‘We’re all fast swimmers, so we swim as fast as we want and don’t really think about it.’
Romanian teenage sensation David Popovici, who won gold in the 200 metres, was not interested in any conspiracy theories.
“It’s just a pool,” he said bluntly. “It’s a pool like any other.”
