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At least they’re getting slowed down equally
It doesn't sound good. If they optimize their training for a particular pool depth and get a different depth, some can be more thrown off than others. Why isn't this standardized?
There was a story about former NBA player Bill Bradley (yeah I'm old). Seems he was missing more free throws than usual during a practice in a new gym. He stopped throwing, paused for some moments, said to the coach "hey you know what? That basket is about an inch too high". Adjusted his throw to deal with that and shot about as good as normal afterwards. Nobody believed him about the basket but someone got a tape measure and he was almost exactly right (off by 1/8" iirc). This is in John McPhee's profile of him, "A Sense of Where You Are".
The swimming pool thing sounds sort of similar. Try some web searches on Ken Ono and swimmng. Wnat to know why so many Olympic team members are from the U. of Virginia? Because Ken Ono is a professor there. Of algebraic number theory. I kid you not.
Added: these articles are good.
https://news.virginia.edu/content/faculty-spotlight-math-professor-uva-swimmings-secret-weapon
https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/the-math-behind-the-medals-professor-ken-ono-is-helping-virginia-revolutionize-swimming-performance/
This one is a little more specific: https://datascience.virginia.edu/news/how-science-math-and-tech-can-propel-swimmers-new-heights
Might add a few more links. This is a rabbit hole.
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/35830851/ncaa-swimming-championships-virginia-women-dominance
They did talk about this at one point. I think the gist of it was it is shallower than some pools are but it's still within the standard regulations. Like there's a range limit and it's within it. I'd also point out that deeper pools probably favor athletes from wealthier countries, and upbringings now that I think on it.
Actually, at 2.2m, it's shallower than the 2.5m minimum currently allowed, but since it was approved specifically before the rule change, it's exempt.
It must REALLY suck for those who are the best they'll ever be to risk having their personal bests be slower because of such a bullshit technicality, especially the ones who would otherwise have a chance to break records!
All of the participants qualified using pools 2.5m or deeper as per the Olympic rules.
I can't believe I never heard about this before. This is fascinating, thank you for sharing. I'm sure some movie producer is trying to get the rights to Ken Ono's life story if someone hasn't already!
The Scientific American article is really good. It's adapted from the earlier Mathematical Intelligencer article but the SciAm version is better written, imho.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/training-with-digital-twins-could-boost-olympic-swimmer-speeds/
Added: NYT article from yesterday, says other countries are now doing similar stuff, also very good.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/29/world/olympics/olympics-swimming-data-analytics.html (https://archive.ph/3rn5z)
It is. France just decided to host swimming competitions in a concert hall. So the pool is sitting on top of the floor of the concert hall with decking built around it and, thus, isn't as deep as a normal Olympic swimming pool.
Yeah, but no good for trying to break world records.