"The Slow Swimming Pool" The Myth Destroyed By One Swimmer

The most popular swimming story of Paris 2024 was going to be that the pool was slow. Then one swimmer destroyed that story. Here's a fluid animation of a swimmer in a three meter deep swimming pool and here's another animation of the same swimmer in a 2.1 meter deep swimming pool like in Paris. When we compare the two we can see that the fluid moves less in the deeper pool especially at the bottom. The water has less energy there which means that underwater currents are going to affect the swimmer less than in a shallower pool. Most international swimming pools have a three meter depth like in Tokyo therefore most current world records have been set in a three meter pool with some notable exceptions. Fluid simulations are both beautiful and useful. At the end of the video I'll show you two more simulations that will explain the best way to swimming shallow pools versus deep pools. However fluid simulations do not explain the countless other variables that come into play during the Olympics. While these simulations provide valuable insight into the physics of swimming they do not capture the full picture. Swimming isn't just about records and medals it's about stories. We tell stories about swimmers, our expectations and our predictions. When those stories don't become reality we quickly try to find simple reasons that bridge the gap between expectations and truth. In the first four days of swimming events in Paris no world records were broken and because no one could catch that red line everyone started to blame the depth of the pool. Understandably it's the most visible difference between Paris and Tokyo and as we saw in our simulation it probably made a difference but perhaps having 17,000 people screaming at you versus a few dozen in Tokyo was also a significant factor. Dare I say maybe that it had a bigger impact on the swimmers? I can't simulate that on the computer even if the VR enthusiasts would like to think so. Injuries, food, lack of sleep, sickness, relationships, the weather, those are just some factors that are not as easily seen. Even for expert swimmers it is easier to feel slow in a pool than it is to review every aspect of your life and how it affects your performance. So we tell ourselves stories about the most obvious things like the depth of the pool. Everyone seemed to agree that this was a slow pool and that breaking a world record would be impossible. Then at the end of the fifth day Pan Shanli destroyed that story but there will always be people who latch onto the story. They were saying maybe for sprint events but surely not for relays. Then the US mixed medley relay confirmed that the story was not as powerful as the swimmers when they broke the world record. Some people still said okay but relays are just kind of sprints. Then Bobby Fink destroyed that argument as well by breaking the 1500 world record and the last blow to that story was the 4x100 women's medley relay in which the USA swimmers also broke the world record. In my experience the hardest thing about shallow pools is the underwater dolphin kicks. In our simulation we observed that in the three meter pool the swimmer can perform underwater dolphin kicks effectively getting below the surface waves and turbulence. However in the shallow pool is very difficult to avoid the waves making underwater kicks less effective. This animation suggests that in shallow pools swimmers might benefit from doing fewer underwater kicks and surfacing earlier to maximize their speed. But again this is only one variable among many that you should consider before changing your strategy in swimming. No single factor tells the whole story. Whether it's pool depth, crowd energy or mental endurance, performance is always a delicate balance of countless influences both visible and invisible. See you there! Swim fast!