Aside from the rising tensions between the Australian and the American swimmers, there hasn’t been a lot of excitement in the swimming discipline at the Paris Olympics. Not many records came under threat, with swimmers going one to two seconds slower than their personal or season-best times.
As it turns out, there is a major reason for only one new record in Paris, and that is the swimming pool itself.
On average, five to ten records would take a tumble in each summer game. But this year’s games have only seen Katie Ledecky be able to rewrite history in that sense. According to Sports Analyst Joe Pompliano, the reason behind the same is the depth of the temporary pool the IOC has built in Paris.
Built in an existing stadium to maximize seating, the pool itself is shallower than what most Olympic swimmers are used to. Traditionally, an Olympic pool is around three metres deep but the one in Paris is only 2.2 metres deep.
Hence, the athletes were encountering additional waves and the resultant turbulence was slowing them down.
Even the pool at the 2016 Rio Olympics was a temporary build but its depth was enough to ensure the swimmers encountered no issues. As many as eight world records tumbled in Rio, while a further 23 Olympic records were made.
In London in 2012, nine world records and 25 Olympic records were set, while in Tokyo six world records and a mammoth 33 Olympic records were set. In stark contrast, only one world record and 11 Olympic records were broken and created in Paris, with a mere four days of competition in the pool left.
The only swimmer responsible for a new world record in the Paris Olympics is Katie Ledecky, who bettered her own time. Swimming in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle category, Ledecky stormed to a win with a time of 15:30.02.
Amazingly enough, she had to wait for a little over 10 seconds for the second-ranked swimmer to finish, and the others came in shortly after.
