No roof for Athens olympic pool !

I just love the phrase "Look like ass!" What an analogy...

Anyway, a lot of olympic sites were built on ground with a lot of ruins that can date back to 3,000 years. So, the archaeologist when the construcation was done took as much ancient artfacts as possible. The Greeks have a lot on their minds and a roof wasn't something they prepared for. The 1896 olympics was open water. The ancient Greeks had a dating system based on the first olympics back in 763 or so BC. I'm glad some of the ancient events don't exist today, they had an event that was a combination of wresting and boxing which was sometimes deadly. And their boxing was almost as deadly as the Romans who use spikes. Most people think mainly of the running events of the ancient games. Also, there was a sporting event for teenage girls called the Hera games name after the godness Hera. I learn some of this from a book and the history channel.

Originally posted by Shaky I do this for a living, and I can tell you that if there's direct sunlight on that pool it will look like ass. If finals are in the evening, there shoudn't be a huge contrast problem, though, should there? I remember both the 1984 LA and 1992 Barcelona games were in outdoor pools and I don't remember any problems with the TV picture.

The story I saw said they are going to use a temporary tarp over the pool. I don't quite get the bit about it being difficult to get a good picture on TV with no roof. What, they've never filmed an outdoor sporting event on TV? However, it is disappointing, but predictable, that the pool will not be finished. Let's just hope not having the roof is the end of the problems. As long as they don't need to set up a temporary course in the Aegean Sea I'll be happy :)

Originally posted by knelson If finals are in the evening, there shoudn't be a huge contrast problem, though, should there? If the sun has gone down far enough that the outer wall of the building is casting its shadow across the pool, it won't be a problem because the entire pool will be in diffused light instead of direct sunlight. It's the midday and afternoon events that would be a problem. Even if the finals are in the evening, most of the events are videotaped anyway. What if there's a significant problem in one of the earlier events that warrants sports coverage, like one of the favored swimmers experiencing some setback that takes him or her out of medal contention? The networks will want highlights. The worst video problem would probably come late afternoon, when part of the facility is in shadow but part is still getting direct sunlight. This is when it's a problem for football, when half the field is either blown out or so dark you can't see it. The pool would be that much worse. Imagine direct sunlight hitting the stands on the opposite side from the camera, while the swimmers mounting the blocks are in shadow. They would just be silhouettes. There's another big problem with this also. We have to balance the cameras for the color of the light hitting our subject, else the subject will look orange or blue. Shadow light is much more blue in color than direct sunlight. If you have the cameras balanced for the sunlight, and a shadow creeps across the pool, everyone seen in the shadow areas will turn blue. I hope that tarp isn't blue. That will look like ass also.

Originally posted by knelson I don't quite get the bit about it being difficult to get a good picture on TV with no roof. What, they've never filmed an outdoor sporting event on TV? I do this for a living, and I can tell you that if there's direct sunlight on that pool it will look like ass. The problem is contrast. Television cameras, even HDTV cameras, do not handle contrast very well. If you have extremely bright and dark areas in the frame, you have to make a choice whether to expose for the bright areas or the dark areas. If you expose for the dark areas, or shadows, the bright areas will "blow out," appearing to glow white hot. If you expose for the bright areas, you won't be able to see any detail in the shadows; they'll just appear black. Generally there's a limit to how much brightness a television signal can take, so you usually expose the picture for the bright areas and let the shadows go dark. Because swimming pools are generally light-colored, the pool will be very bright. When shooting a swimmer against that bright background, the swimmers will appear very dark. It's like taking a picture of someone indoors, standing against a window. Other sports have problems with this, but it's not quite as bad. In a football stadium, you have the players against a dark background, so the contrast is not as bad. The players themselves are the brightest thing in the picture. Furthermore, green absorbs light by nature (that's why plants are green). You'll have contrast problems in direct sunlight where you can't see the details in the shadows, such that an instant replay of a fumble in a shadow, for example, may be difficult to see; but imagine how bad it would look if the players played on a white field. The tarp thing will likely fix the contrast problem, because it will hopefully put a shadow over the entire pool and diffuse the light. It doesn't sound as though it will help much with the heat, though.

Originally posted by Gareth Eckley Should have very little effects on the competitors. First, the air/water temp should have little or no impact on water temp. Look at the ASU pool where deck temp get up to 120 degrees yet the water temp doesn't vary by 1 degree. Second, swimming in the evening...same situation in Barcelona and Atlanta and no problem with either venue. Now for those who paid good money to attend in person as spectators will suffer.

Originally posted by Shaky I hope that tarp isn't blue. That will look like ass also. For some reason I'm envisioning a Beavis and Butthead episode: "Hey Beavis, check out that Michael Phelps dude, he looks like ass!":D I can see where you're coming from with respect to the problems with shadows. That would definitely be a challenge for the cameramen.

Originally posted by seltzer For example, the Atlanta Olympic pool was moved to Georgia Tech where it now serves a large population. He was partially correct. Georgia Tech did have a temporary pool for water polo. Not all the aquatic events could be held at the same venue so a temporary pool was used. This pool was then moved to Florida. www.myrthapools.com/ita_referenze_atlanta.php

Lainey, I think you are thinking about the World's just a few months ago. They showed a timelapsed video of them constructing the pool in-doors. It was pretty cool!