Hello~
Since nearly everyone in my office knows that I swim, I seem to be getting all of the questions/comments about swimming at the Olympics.
I got an interesting question....
Have you swum in a pool where the Olympics swimming events took place?
Offhand, I don't know the answer for myself. I just spent 30 minutes googling, and although I can find the cities where the Olympics took place, I can't find the sites where swimming specifically took place. If anyone has a list (or knows where one is), that would be great. I've been to many of the cities, toured Olympic stadiums, and could have possibly swam in some of the pools that were used.
Otherwise, it would be great to read some stories of others who have swum in pools where the Olympics took place. I asked 2 guys after our practice this morning, both had....1 in LA, the other in Moscow.
I got an interesting question....
Have you swum in a pool where the Olympics swimming events took place?
I've tried to do this whenever possible and have managed to swim in:
* Los Angeles -- nothing special from my recollection
* Sydney -- a mecca for swimming; gorgeous exterior architecture, wonderful swimming stadium
* Montreal -- definitely aged, but still funky in a retro way.
I am still mad at myself for having been in Barcelona on a business trip and not making the time to go out to the pool. My father, though, swam in Barcelona. I gather from his report that you need to be extra careful about cleanliness -- you must swim with a cap, must shower before and must walk on the deck with some sort of flip-flop/footwear.
I've not swum in an Olympic facility in Tokyo, but have swum in pools there. There's also a strong "must wear a cap" rule there, which, for someone who only grudgingly wears a cap when forced to by certain open water race organizers, was a pain. The first time I swam in Tokyo, not only did I have to buy one onsite for some ridiculous sum, but, apparently, I have a much bigger head than even the largest-headed Japanese person. I felt like I was wearing a beanie. On the positive side, the pool was exceptionally clean and I had a 50M lane all to myself, something I gather is an extreme rarity in Japan.
I got an interesting question....
Have you swum in a pool where the Olympics swimming events took place?
I've tried to do this whenever possible and have managed to swim in:
* Los Angeles -- nothing special from my recollection
* Sydney -- a mecca for swimming; gorgeous exterior architecture, wonderful swimming stadium
* Montreal -- definitely aged, but still funky in a retro way.
I am still mad at myself for having been in Barcelona on a business trip and not making the time to go out to the pool. My father, though, swam in Barcelona. I gather from his report that you need to be extra careful about cleanliness -- you must swim with a cap, must shower before and must walk on the deck with some sort of flip-flop/footwear.
I've not swum in an Olympic facility in Tokyo, but have swum in pools there. There's also a strong "must wear a cap" rule there, which, for someone who only grudgingly wears a cap when forced to by certain open water race organizers, was a pain. The first time I swam in Tokyo, not only did I have to buy one onsite for some ridiculous sum, but, apparently, I have a much bigger head than even the largest-headed Japanese person. I felt like I was wearing a beanie. On the positive side, the pool was exceptionally clean and I had a 50M lane all to myself, something I gather is an extreme rarity in Japan.
