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List of swimming pools

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This is a list of notable swimming pools, especially full long course 50 by 25 metres (164 ft × 82 ft) ones suited for Olympic competitions (with 10 lanes, just 8 used, and 2m or more deep). This also includes current and past pools with historical or architectural importance. It is not intended to include hot springs pools except where actual swimming, as opposed to bathing or wading, is possible.

Organized swimming as a competitive sport seems to have emerged in England in the 1830s, after the first indoor swimming pool of some type, at St. George's Baths, was opened in 1828. Swimming was included in the first Olympics of modern times, in Athens in 1896, with competition held in the Bay of Zea at Piraeus, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the stadium where many events were held. In the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, swimming was in the Seine. The 1904 Summer Olympics, the only Olympic games where the yard was the measure for setting racing distances, was held at a lake in Forest Park, in St. Louis, Missouri. The first Olympic swimming pool was used in the 1908 Summer Olympics, in London, outdoors in the infield of White City Stadium (demolished in 1985).

In modern times, an Olympic pool may be used for a competition, and then moved to be used elsewhere. This what happened with pools at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium and the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center of the 2016 Summer Olympics: these were transformed into four 50 meter pools in Manaus (4000 km west of Rio), Salvador de Bahia (1600 km north), Guarantiguetà (250 km west) and Fortaleza de São João (20 km away within Rio). And for the 2028 Summer Olympics, a baseball stadium in Los Angeles will be modified into a temporary aquatics venue to host the swimming, synchronized swimming and diving events.

World Aquatics (Previously FINA) sets standards for swimming pools used in international competitions.[1] Its requirements are not met by many "Olympic-sized" pools; for example of the 15 or more Olympic-sized pools in the Philippines, only the one at New Clark City Aquatics Center is FINA-certified. FINA's requirement that a pool must be 2 meters deep (with 3 meters recommended) is met by some pools elsewhere being adjustable in depth at their shallow ends, such for the competition pool in Tromsø, Norway.

Specialization of Kenya, other East African countries in track, of Cuba in boxing, has been attributed by some to their lack of investment in pools and other athletic facilities.[2] There have been numerous calls within countries for Olympic level facilities, e.g. Kenya below, even in developed nations such as Canada, where the capital region around Ottawa is deemed to be under-served. Just as it is hard for a tropical nation to develop what's needed to be competitive in bobsled, so is it difficult for many nations to afford the upfront and high continuing costs of Olympic pools, given other needs.

In recent years, there has been possibility for some third world countries to obtain needed investment through China's Belt and Road program. "Chinese construction companies also helped the Government of Kenya build a US$52 million sports stadium with a seating capacity of 60,000 people, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and a modern gymnasium to host the fourth All-Africa games ..."[3] Plan for initiative to build an Olympic stadium in Kuwait.[4][5]

Swimming pools, worldwide, are numerous. For the facilities that have actually been used in an Olympics, see List of Olympic venues in swimming. For very large ones, see List of largest swimming pools.

Facilities by nation include:

Algeria

Piscine du Complexe Olympique, Algiers, used in 2007 All-Africa Games. The 1978 All-Africa Games were also held in Algiers.

Argentina

Australia

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

50 m pools in Canada, from west to east, include:

British Columbia:

  • Vancouver Aquatic Centre, West End, Vancouver, a City of Vancouver facility, has a 50 m pool, and has 1m and 3m diving boards and a diving tower with 5 m, 7.5 m, and 10 m height platforms.[12]

Alberta:

Manitoba:

Ontario: Toronto

Ontario: Ottawa

Ontario: Guelph

Quebec: Montreal:

Nova Scotia: Halifax


Chile

China

Congo

Croatia

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Egypt

Finland

France

Germany

Olympic Swimming Stadium in Berlin

Greece

Hungary

India

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Kenya

Note: 1985 call in the National Assembly for an Olympic pool, among other facilities, so we are not limited to track events.[35]

Malaysia

Mexico

Monaco

  • Rainier III Nautical Stadium, a salt water Olympic sized pool, constructed in 1961 out of a swimming area that was sectioned off from Monaco's harbor.

Morocco

Mozambique

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nigeria

North Korea

Norway

Norway has four "Olympic-sized" pools, including:

  • Oasen, a public swimming pool built inside a rock cavern in Namsos
  • Indoor 50-by-25-metre (164 ft × 82 ft) pool at Tøyenbadet, Tøyen, Oslo. In 2022, Tøyenbadet was being entirely rebuilt, to reopen in 2023.[46]
  • A 50-metre (160 ft) pool at Tromsøbadet, Tromsø, Norway's northernmost competition pool. The pool meets the requirements for national and international competitions. At the shallow end of the pool the depth can be adjusted from 0–2 metres (0.0–6.6 ft).[47]

Other pools include:

Pakistan

Peru

Philippines

There were 15 Olympic-sized (50 by 15 metres (164 ft × 49 ft)) pools and more being built, as of 2019, in the Philippines, and about 20 other 50-meter pools.

Poland

  • Termy Maltańskie Termy Maltanskie(the Olympic swimming pool complex) Poznań[53][54]
  • Deepspot, Mszczonów, Poland, the world's third? deepest swimming pool, 45 metres (148 ft), below Y-40 The Deep Joy pool in Italy, which is 131 feet[55]
  • Olympic swimming arena in Szczecin[56]

Russia

South Africa

South Korea

  • Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool (1980), in Seoul Olympic Park, which hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. It has an outdoor 50m x 25m, 10-lanes pool, an indoor 50m x 12.5m 5-lane pool, and an indoor 25m x 25m diving pool with 1m and 3m diving boards and 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m diving platforms.[57][58]
  • K-26, a pool with depth 26 metres (85 ft), the deepest swimming pool of its kind in Asia (vs. Taiwan's Divecube with depth 21 metres (69 ft)).[59]

Spain

Taiwan

  • Divecube, in Taichung, a 21 metres (69 ft) deep pool asserted to be deepest swimming pool of its kind in Asia,[60] since submarined by K-26 in South Korea.

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

The UK has numerous Olympic-size pools itemized in List of long course swimming pools in the United Kingdom. Selected ones from that list, and other notable pools of the UK include:

England

Scotland

Wales

United States

Arizona

California

Georgia

Illinois

Michigan

Missouri

  • Shaw Park, Clayton, a near suburb of St. Louis. It has an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Nebraska

New York

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Virginia

  • Marine Corps Base Quantico 8-lane 50 m pool, used in triathlons. Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Quantico 50m pool at Wikimedia Commons

Washington

Zimbabwe

See also

References

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