The reasons behind all the Olympic swimming records
- August 14, 2008
- Sports
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I’ve really enjoyed watching the Olympics this year, especially the swimming events. Watching Michael Phelps compete and win gold medal after gold medal is exciting, but it’s almost just expected that he’s going to win and that everyone else is competing for silver and bronze.
But the 2nd-biggest story to come out of Olympic swimming has got to be the sheer number of world records that have been shattered. I knew the new fancy Speedo LZR Racer suit that everyone is wearing had a lot to do with it, but mental_floss has some other reasons as well that aren’t obvious to non-athletic viewers like me.
The pool in Beijing, known as the “Water Cube,” is 3 meters deep, instead of the previous depth of 2 meters. This allows swimmers to dive deeper and continue their push off “dolphin kicks” for a longer period of time. Olympic medalist and commentator Rowdy Gaines says, “It’s just deep enough to where the waves dissipate (and) the turbulence dissipates down to the bottom.”
PhysOrg.com also speculates that the water sanitation and filtration system used in the Water Cube, which oxidizes the water instead of using chlorine, could be giving the athletes an edge:
According to ProMinent, the Ozone technology built and utilized by the Water Cube is the most powerful oxidation agent and disinfectant that exhibits an extremely broad and effective biocide spectrum. It is an environmentally and human-friendly technology that generates ozone from pure oxygen or from oxygen in the ambient air and meter it into the water.
Update: Radar Magazine points out two other features that were not included in the Water Cube that could’ve increased the swimming speeds even more: porous endwalls which would soak up water like a sponge, and starting podiums with adjustable flaps which would give the swimmers something to push off of. The spongy walls were nixed by the Chinese over cost concerns (??) and the podiums were rejected by swimming’s governing body until next year’s world championships.
OK, this is officially the most I’ve ever talked about swimming in my life. Whew!
