Australia has kicked off official ‘welcome home’ events for our Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Teams, starting in Sydney on 13th September – find your local ceremony via this link – Olympic & Paralympic Welcome … | Australian Olympic Committee (olympics.com.au).
The 2024 Olympics has yet again shown Australia’s affinity with the pool. Our main Swim Team won 19 medals (7 Gold, 9 Silver & 3 Bronze) – & that count was bested by our Paralympic Swim Team, bringing home 27 medals (6 Gold, 8 Silver, & 13 Bronze).
Those medals were all hard fought & won (as usual), however, breaking world records in Paris was even tougher – a bit like swimming against the tide!
Whilst an innovative new aquatic facility was conceived for the 2024 Olympics, many events were actually held in a temporary pool, erected within the existing La Defense Arena. La Defense, the home of the Racing 92 rugby team, was constructed as a multi-use indoor stadium in 2017. Taylor Swift performed her Eras Tour concert there – & then there were just 60-days to try to convert the Arena into a world-class swimming venue.
Unfortunately, shoe-horning the temporary 50m pool into the Arena meant that pool depth was constrained, as was the location of treated water outlets, & the ability to incorporate specialist HVAC. Pool depth, the distribution of water, & air pressure & temperature (directly above the water) all impact swimming speed. These factors can contribute to a ‘slow’ pool – one in which world/Olympic records are that bit harder to achieve.
Esteemed & respected BEC colleague, Paul Stevenson, keenly provided socials commentary on these aspects during the swimming, & was then interviewed by Channel 9 to share his learned views. Let’s keep our ‘collective’ fingers crossed that Aussies get to smash records at Brisbane in 2032 – in a permanent fast 50m pool!
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzcUzgiX5ac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Aquatic_Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_La_D%C3%A9fense_Arena
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_92
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KudedLV0tP0
#Olympics #aquaticengineering #pool #aquatics #design #ImagineWhatWeCanDo #AllezAUS #TaylorSwift #ErasTour #LaDefenseArena #Racing92 #BEC #BrisbaneOlympics2032 #PaulStevenson
