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There’s no denying, the swimming pool at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is downright slow.
Now, a lot of you may be wondering what that means. After all, it’s not like the water is competing and how could water be “slow.”
But here are the facts of the matter. In a sport where records are constantly being broken with each passing year, the times in Paris have seemingly fallen off a cliff.
So, why is that?
Well, our friends over at SwimSwam revealed that French organizers ignored suggestions when creating the temporary pools at La Défense Arena, a multisport arena located in Nanterre.
The World Aquatics regulations state that a pool must be at least two meters deep if used for multiple different events. But it recommends that pools be at least three meters deep. That is the standard across the world.
According to the French LeParisien , the two 50-meter Olympic pools at the venue are 2.15 meters deep (about 7 feet, 1/2 inch).
That’s more than 2.5 feet shallower than the pools in Tokyo.
Why does that matter?
Well, one of the areas that Team USA swimmers typically excel the most at is their underwaters. That means their starts and turns, when they’re not at the surface of the water using the event’s stroke.
With a shallower pool, the depth and subsequent length of those underwaters tend to lessen. That applies to the full field, as well.
i didn't wanna jump to conclusions but i'm fully conspiracypilled on the Paris pool now pic.twitter.com/DgZXAX4Kva
— RYAN MONEY MURPHY💰💰 (@pfizer4andrew) July 28, 2024
But one popular conspiracy theory suggests that the French organizers were still mad at Team USA over the legendary 4 x 100 freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In that race, Team USA anchor Jason Lezak chased down French star Alain Bernard for an improbable comeback victory. It ultimately allowed Michael Phelps to go on and win a record eight gold medals.
That seems a bit presumptuous. But it is the French, so we wouldn’t put anything past them.