What has seen 9 World Records Broken...
Is 2.5 Meters Deep...
And Kept at 80 Degrees?
Did this Picture help?
Did this Picture help?
How about this one?
Last night I was lucky enough to get a behind the scenes tour of the pools used for the Olympic Swim Trials. The pools (the one above and is for the actual races that you'll see on tv) were both built in 12 days.
In the morning, the racing pool will host prelims, and for the first time--use all ten lanes--as there are over 1900 swimmers with qualifying times...and 7 days left for even more swimmers to qualify.
At night, the pool will only use 8 of the lanes. In some races only the first place qualifier will gain a spot on the Olympic team...in other races, it will be the top two qualifiers. The 1900+ swimmers will be narrowed down to around 48 or 49 swimmers to represent the United States at the Olympics.
I couldn't resist having my picture taken on the pool deck... :)
This pool is the "warm up" pool. It's a pool that only swimmers and coaches see. No press, no fans, no volunteers. 4 years ago, many of the Olympic swimmers commented on the caliber of this warm up pool, so I was really interested in seeing why.
This 13 lane pool is kept at 81 degrees. (1 degree warmer than the racing pool--most swimmers have 4% body fat--and can easily tell that 1 degree difference). 5 lanes are 25 meters for sprint work, 8 lanes are 50 meters...just like the pool the qualifiers will race in. (Another fun fact--each lane rope costs $1700)
It gave me chills to go on this tour, learn all about the event, the work that went into making the pools, but mostly just to realize that I was walking in the same place that some Olympic athletes (okay...Michael Phelps) would be walking. Way Cool.
Will You Be Watching the Swimming Trials?
What Is Your Favorite Summer Olympic Event?!
Thanks for Reading!!!
