{"id":593156,"date":"2024-07-30T08:08:28","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T15:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=593156"},"modified":"2024-07-30T08:08:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T15:08:28","slug":"slow-pool-at-paris-olympics-times-are-not-all-that-are-remembered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/slow-pool-at-paris-olympics-times-are-not-all-that-are-remembered\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Pool at Paris Olympics? ‘Times Are Not All That (Are) Remembered’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slow Pool at Paris Olympics? ‘Times Are Not All That (Are) Remembered’<\/strong><\/p>\n

The concerns about the status of the competition pool inside La D\u00e9fense Arena have gotten louder each day of the Olympic swimming competition. While there have been five Olympic records, no world records have fallen thus far in Paris. The winning times in nine out of 12 finals have been slower than the marks recorded at last year’s World Championships in Fukuoka, and the times required to advance to semifinals and finals has been largely slower.<\/p>\n

The prevailing theory thus far surrounding the slowdown has been the depth of the competition pool, 2.15 meters (equivalent to a tick over seven feet). Observers have questioned whether the relatively shallow depth is causing swimmers’ waves to bounce quickly back up and slow competitors.<\/p>\n

Seven of the eight swimmers who qualified for the men’s 100 breaststroke final entered with seed times under 59 seconds. The only three men to ever break 58,\u00a0Adam Peaty<\/strong>,\u00a0Qin Haiyang<\/strong> and\u00a0Arno Kamminga<\/strong>, were all in the field. But no one swam under 59 in any of the three rounds, with\u00a0Italy’s\u00a0Nicolo Martinenghi<\/strong> winning gold in 59.03<\/a>. For some comparison, seven men broke 59 in the Tokyo Olympic final.<\/p>\n

Athletes, at least in public, have largely deflected reporters’ questions about whether the pool is slow, noting they had not noticed anything unusual. They have proclaimed their focus on keeping a meet like the Olympics as normal as possible.<\/p>\n

American Jack Alexy<\/strong> followed that line of thinking after qualifying first in the men’s 100 freestyle prelims<\/a>: “I\u2019m just focused on myself, my process,” he said. “It\u2019s all about racing right now. Times are what the times are going to be. It\u2019s all about executing the race.”<\/p>\n

Moments after Alexy spoke, one of his primary rivals in the blue-ribband event became one of the first competitors to publicly subscribe to the concept of a slow pool, although\u00a0Kyle Chalmers<\/strong> first pointed out several outside factors which could be affecting athlete performance this week aside from pool depth.<\/p>\n

“I think there\u2019s a lot of pressure that people put on themselves. It\u2019s the Olympic Games. A lot of people haven\u2019t swum in an Olympics before,” Chalmers said. “I personally love it, but people do definitely crack under that pressure.”<\/p>\n

Beyond that, most who do have Olympic experience previously swam in Tokyo, where fans were banned from attending because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a far different scenario than the raucous French crowd frequenting the proceedings this week. Chalmers is one of few leading swimmers who swam in the last normal Olympics, eight years ago in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

But if the pool is not designed to maximize performance, Chalmers does not care. Swimmers are hard-wired to judge their performances based on time, to look for small details upon which they can improve, but at the Olympics, no higher level of racing exists. The results at swimming’s greatest showcase are final, with athletes who falter in Paris having no choice but to wait for Los Angeles. They can hit their best times whenever.<\/p>\n

Eight swimmers qualify for the final and get a chance to seek a medal, nothing mattering for the outcome aside from their performance in that very finite window.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s proven the last few nights; it\u2019s about getting your hand on the wall first and winning the race. Times are not all that remembered. It\u2019s whoever wins,” Chalmers said.<\/p>\n

“It doesn\u2019t matter whether I\u2019m racing here in Paris or a local pool in (rural) South Australia. It\u2019s all about winning the race in the pool. Everybody has the same opportunity. Everyone has a lane. We\u2019re all swimming in the same pool. It\u2019s not like some people are sending their times in from Trials or anything like that.”<\/p>\n