Olympic Trials
Britain owns a grand total of seven Olympic-sized pools (50 by 25m), or one for every 8,888,394 people. This a pretty good reason to stay from swimming. In California, I spent my summers at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek, a suburb of San Francisco, whose Olympic pool bracketed by a 25 meter diving well (where we oggled the synchronised swimmers) and a 25 m lap-pool. All of it surrounded by green grass and bathed in beautiful sunshine.
But back to the London Aquatics Centre : The pool employs all the tricks : three-meter depth to dissipate turbulence and pool-floor wave-rebound; poolside deck level, allowing waves to run over the side and into a trough . .. .26-degree temps. Further, the outside lanes kept minimise agitation. While none of these things new, together+the arena's atmosphere, should lead to a few world records at the games (even without the hi-tech swimsuits).
We watch the good and the great including Becky Aldington (2X gold in '08+broke Janet Evens 19-year old 800-meter freestyle record in the Olympic finals); Liam Tancock (WR, 50 m backstroke), Robert Renwisk (Brit record-holder, 200m crawl) and Hannah Miley (British record-holder, 200 and 400m IM).
