It makes any building pool look like a cocky bathtub. Its 50 meters in length are equivalent to half of a football field. The width, 25 meters, is enough to park 13 Fiat Palio side by side. And it’s not just the size that serves as a document: the starting blocks have non-slip flooring, the water is kept at 27 degrees and the division between lanes prevents the formation of ripples. Prevents, but does not exterminate. The ripples accumulate in the corners. Then the pool has to be divided into ten lanes so that only the eight inner, less turbulent ones are used in the tests. In addition, the best classified swimmers start in a kind of “pole position”, lanes 4 and 5, which are right in the middle, where the water is calmer. The most technological part, finally, is the timing, based on the plates that the swimmers hit before looking at the scoreboard to see what position they have reached. In addition to marking times, the plates also indicate whether or not a swimmer has failed his start. Even with all this apparatus, there are still 52 judges to supervise the athletes.
electronic shot
This is the judge who gives the start. When he presses the start button, it sounds a siren and the timing device is triggered. Only this judge and the general referee, located at his side, can interrupt the race in case an athlete makes a false start.
water court
There are more chiefs than Indians! On each side of the pool there are four referees to observe if the eight athletes are swimming within the style of the race. Another 25 do manual timing. There are 16 more to analyze if each swimmer’s turn was regular. And three judges to note the order of arrival. Ufa!
anti-disaster flags
Who never slammed their arm on the edge of the pool while swimming backwards? To avoid these disasters, there is a line of pennants 5 meters from each headland. Already 15 meters from the main head is the so-called false start rope, thrown into the pool to warn when the start is burned.
little beach
To reduce the rippling, the corners of the pool are shaped like a “beach”: the water slide is very close to the side edges. So any ripples dissipate outside. Excess liquid falls into a drain. And the turbulence is attenuated.
anti-scumbag sensor
In relay events, sensors are installed on platforms where athletes climb to dive. The device is synchronized with the touch plate to indicate if the athlete actually jumped into the water only after his partner reached the edge.
instant stopwatch
Eight touch-sensitive plates, measuring 2.4 x 0.9 meters each, are located at the head of the pool to signal the arrival of swimmers. As the equipment is not immune to failures, there are timekeepers on hand, who manually mark the time of each of the athletes.
anti-ripple line
The lanes are 2.5 meters wide and are separated by rows of floating disks, which cushion the waves caused by swimmers. In the last 5 meters on each side, the discs must be a different color for the athlete to see that the edge of the pool is close.