How deep is an olympic size swimming pool?
By beauty_ph
@beauty_ph (2749)
Philippines
June 2, 2007 2:43pm CST
It is my first time to swim in a so called "olympic size" swimming pool. It is locate in one of the resorts here in the Philippines. I then discovered that dept is from 5-11.5feet.
Have you been swimming in an "olympic size" swimming pool before? How deep is it as far as you have experienced?
5 people like this
6 responses
@cblackink (969)
• United States
19 Oct 07
As far as I can remember, from my college days, Olympic size refers to the length of the pool, not the depth. In other words, how far is it from one end of the pool to the other. I could be wrong about that. Olympic sized pools don't necessarily include a diving tank on one end.
1 person likes this
@cblackink (969)
• United States
20 Oct 07
I believe the one we had in college was about six feet deep at it's deepest point. There was a second pool, in the older gymnasium, that had an end to dive in, which I think was about eleven feet.
1 person likes this
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
20 Oct 07
Thanks for sharing the pools you have encountered in college. Eleven is deep enough for me to dive. I actually even tried diving at 8 feet. I think it is just ok with my height which is 5'2".
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
19 Oct 07
Olympic-size means it passed the requirement in terms of the length, width, depth, number of lanes, width of each lanes, volume of water, water temperature and light intensity.
The dimensions of an Olympic pool are required to be 25 metres by 50 metres.
According to the rules of FINA.org, an Olympic pool should be 50 m long by 8 times 2.5 meter lanes with 2.5m outside lanes 1 and 8 (so 10*2.5 = 25m) - minimum depth 2m.
In English units:
50m = 164.042 ft
25m = 82.02 ft
2.0m = 6.56 ft
Surface area = 13,454.72 sq ft
Volume ~= 88,263 cu ft~= 660,253.09 gallons of water
That's about 5,511,556 lbs (2755.8 tons) of water.
The temperature must be 25 °C - 28°C (77°F - 82.4°F). Light intensity of more than 1500 lux.
In this discussion, I am interest to know the maximum depth of the olympic-sized swimming pools others have experienced.
Sources:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_dimensions_of_an_Olympic-sized_swimming_pool
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_size_swimming_pool
1 person likes this
@mamasan34 (6518)
• United States
20 Oct 07
The last olympic size pool I swam in ran from 3 1/2 feet to 12 feet deep. I don't now if there is a set standard for the depths of an olympic size pool.
1 person likes this
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
20 Oct 07
There are standard dimensions of an olympic-sized swimming pool. I mentioned this above as a respond to someone's comment. I also included the links where I found the standard dimensions. God bless!
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
15 Oct 07
When I was in college, swimming is a part of our Physical Education. I live here in Manila and I went to college in one of the Maritimne Schools in Pasay City, we held Physical Education on swimming at Ninoy Aquino Stadium (formerly Rizal Memorial Stadium). They have olympic-sized swimming pool there, though I cannot remember the exact depth of the deepest part of their pool. It could 11.5 to 12feet max, I'm not sure really..
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
19 Oct 07
That stadium is great for me to know it has an olympic-sized pool. Its lengths and width can allow several simmers to compete and stay tired at the end of the round. LOL.
We also have swimming in our college years as a Physical Education subject. It was when I formally learned how to swim.
@cassidy22 (2974)
• United States
20 Oct 07
cblackink is right, "olympic" size is more about the length and width, than the depth. The depth has to be at a minimum 4 feet for safety reasons.
The depth will depend then on when the pool was built (they now know that the deeper the pool, to a point, the faster the race) and if the pool is dual purpose. A pool is generally used ONCE in its life for an actual Olympic event, if it is created with, say a moving bulkhead to allow distance and sprint races (olympic length is 50 meters, a typical pool length is only 25) or to allow for water polo goals to be set up for games (you can fit 2 water polo "fields" into a 50 meter pool with a moving bulkhead)
It also depends on if the pool is also used for diving, and at what height the diving boards or platforms may be. The higher the diving (1 meter springboard, 5 meter platform) the deeper the pool needs to be at the diving side.
1 person likes this
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
20 Oct 07
When we say "olympic-size" it refers to the standard measures I mentioned above. My discussion is actually interested to how deep the pool others have experienced. Most olympic-sized pools are more than 6 feet deep as it is the standard dimension.
@williamjisir (22819)
• China
15 Oct 07
Good evening beauty_ph. I am a land duck and do not know how to swim, but in summer I used to go to the river in my hometown and just stay in the shallow water to feel the cool water in the river. I have also been to the swimming pool in my city as well, but it is only deep enough for swimming.
I wish that I knew more about the size of a olympic size swimming pool.
1 person likes this
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
19 Oct 07
Wow it is good to know that your river still allows land ducks. LOL.
I hate me experience in a river way back my early childhood. We went to the river bank, and I was not a swimmer yet, and played without noticing me and my cousin was swept my the waters. We struggled for help and was lucky our older cousin were ready to save us.
Now I am confident to stay in the river banks, but still can't forget the trauma before. Hehehe.
@beauty_ph (2749)
• Philippines
19 Oct 07
I do not know a swimming pool with more than 12feet deep. The average height in the Philippines is not that as high as 5'5". So I think 12feet is still ok to dive with a diving board. It is always good to be safety conscious and be careful when diving.
