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).
Wow… pool depth is well within IOC regulations. What the he// was the point of publishing this meaningless article?
Pool depth itself, so long as it’s in line with OG’s minimum requirement, does NOT have any impact on swimmer’s performance in terms of physics.
Ironically it is not the case in terms of physique, or say build, of athletes as the shallower the pool, the larger waves or turbulence, compared with whitewater, may be caused.
I use to swim competitively and this really makes it unfair to those on the outside lanes. It’s hard enough when you compete on the outside lanes because you already are “known” to be slower than your competitors, but then to have waves knocking on you at the same time, it will reduce your speed significantly.
This pool is raising concerns due to it being too shallow, which actually causes less waves
No read the article shallower pools are more turbulent from the waves and deeper pools are calmer and allows faster swimming speeds, it’s literally in the article?
No it doesn’t, shallow pools produce much larger waves
It says that the outside lanes will not be used
I think it’s fair for both teams. If they are using that for water polo, I would appreciate that! I played in high school and I can’t remember how many times in the 15 foot pool people are just about to drown at the bottom of the pile.
Amazing comments. Did any commenter try to start in a shallow pool? They gonna hit the bottom with their heads
“They gonna hit the bottom with their heads?” [sic] In a pool that meets minimum depth requirements?
LoL
Guess you better head on over to world aquatics & drop your resume off at the pool requirements division.
The pools are the depth of requirements,just not at the depths of preference.7 1/2 ft deep, though, they prefer 9 1/2 -10 ft depths as athletes because it is typically what they train in.
Whether the pool is used for prelim or actual monitored events, the depth “should” be built so that all participants have an equal and fair chance to perform their best. They spend years training for the Olympic Games and one would think that the OC and engineers would build a facility that would provide the equal chance they deserve and design it so there is an equal opportunity for all.
The athletes and their coaches knew for at least the last year the precise depth of the Paris Olympics pool facility. Plenty of time for everyone to adjust any training to have “an equal opportunity for all”
It’s good that some of the pools are close to the minimum depth. Going from 2m to 3m increases the amount of water needed from 2,500,000 litres to 3,750,000. That’s a massive amount of water that has to be heated, filtered, chlorinated etc. The environmental burden should be keep to a minimum.
What a tree hugger
I’d rather swim in a “shallow” pool than a cesspool.