August 14, 2008

Horse 905 - Lolly Water Cube



I should have realised this, but the reason as why so many world records have fallen at these Olympic Games... and it took NPR to find it:
The Water Cube pool also has 10 lanes instead of eight. Waves churned up during races don't bounce back into the swimming lanes. Waves that reach the sides are siphoned off by perforated gutters.
The Water Cube pool is close to 10 feet deep. That's 3 feet deeper than the pools of the past. The lane lines that separate swimmers are called wave eaters because they dissipate turbulent water. The goal is to make the water as flat and clear as possible, despite the churning that swimmers create.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93478073

What? Can I suggest that the "Olympic Pool" in the water cube is not really an Olympic Pool. I always thought that an "Olympic Pool" was only 8 lanes wide, and if this thing is deeper than what sort of rubbish is this? Don't they have Olympic standards for this sort of thing?

What happens to the records of the great Ian Thorpe? How about Lionel Rose? Ok, he was a boxer but what do you think Dawn Fraser would have to say? Already Michael Phelps is being touted as the "greatest Olympian of all time" by winning his 10th and 11th gold medals. Not to take anything away from the man because he did have to beat other competitors but he's won these latest ones in a great big smelly cheat-pool.

Should any of the records have any standing? What next? The Mens 196km Marathon? The Super 16m platform dive? And yet the IOC has the nerve to tell the comptitors not take drugs? If you're going to start changing the games themselves I say it scarcely matters.

What not just go the who shebang and have the Ultra-Drugged-Up to the Eyeballs Games? I want to see someone run the 89m sprint in under 4.4 seconds.

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