Shallower pool depth prevents new global brands from participating in the Olympic Games

The unusual absence of world records in the first four days of clean swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics was caused by the 85cm depth suppression in the traditional pool configuration.

“At the biggest competitions we have seen pools three metres deep, but this one is of much lesser value. [estimado em 2,15]”Of course, for a normal event it is still a great pool, but we are talking about the biggest sporting event and every detail counts. This is a factor that seems to make a difference compared to previous Olympic Games,” explained Daniel Marinho, technical manager of the Portuguese Swimming Federation (FPN) and professor at the Department of Sports Sciences at the University of Beira Interior, to the Lusa agency.

The first 15 finals held at La Defense in the French capital failed to break any world records, reversing a historical trend of Olympic swimming events breaking records that peaked at Beijing 2008 with 25 new records.

The bar has seen 65 Olympic records set on Chinese soil, and has been particularly impacted by the controversial swimsuits that increased athletes’ speed, buoyancy and drag but were banned by the World Aquatics Organization (WA) two years later.

“Since Beijing 2008, the pools have been three metres deep. It seems a little odd that Paris has not followed this trend, especially as it has made a big commitment to high-end equipment and infrastructure, and Western Australia has also been pushing in this direction for big events,” the director of the Centre for Sports, Health and Human Development Research also said.

The Arena de la Défense, a regular venue for cultural and sporting events, including matches hosted by Racing 92, a team from the top division of Gallic rugby, was re-purposed for the first time to host aquatic competitions.

The water polo qualifying matches will also be held there, and artistic swimming, which requires a depth of three meters, will take place in the pool of the Paris Aquatic Center.

“The deeper the pool, the more room there is for turbulence. [ocasionada pelas braçadas dos nadadores] dissipates and has less impact on the surface. The further the athlete is from the physical obstacle, the less hydrodynamic resistance he experiences. Therefore, swimming in the first or third lane are different things. Pools have outer lanes to avoid obstacles, especially side walls,” said Daniel Marinho.

The teacher acknowledges that the 85-centimeter difference in question is felt more “in the speed and freestyle sports,” as Romania’s David Popovici showed when he won the 200-meter freestyle after 1:44.72 minutes – the worst mark by an Olympic champion at the distance since Sydney 2000 – or Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi, who needed 59.03 seconds to dominate in the slowest decision in two decades in the 100-meter breaststroke.

“On the other hand, we saw an interesting aspect: the finals were a little slower than the ‘semi-finals’. It’s not that this is completely unprecedented, but it is a little against the trend that, as a rule, finals [os momentos cruciais] to have better times. I think we’re seeing more tactical evidence,” he said.

Held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the last Games broke six world and 33 Olympic records in clean swimming, while Paris 2024 has already broken half a dozen records set in the sport’s biggest event and will host 20 more finals by Sunday.

“I don’t know if it’s just a question of strategy or if there are other factors. [em jogo]such as anxiety, nervousness and not knowing the opponents so well, especially because there were several tests [pouco dispersas] due to Covid-19 and without the regular interval that usually exists between the Olympic, World and European Games,” he concluded.