Latest News on London 2012 Olympics

February 15, 2010 at 12:52 pm | Posted in Latest Swimming News, Open water swimming | 1 Comment
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Update on 26th May 2011

London 2012 Olympic Swimming news

During the London 2012 Olympics, the Aquatics Centre will be the venue for Swimming, Paralympic Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming and the Aquatics discipline of the Modern Pentathlon.

Where is the Olympic swimming pool for London’s 2012 Olympics?

Venue: Aquatics Centre – Olympic Park (pool events);

Hyde Park(Marathon Swimming 10km)

Location: South-east corner of the Olympic Park
Dates: Saturday 28 July – Saturday 4 August (Aquatics Centre);

Thursday 9 – Friday 10 August (Hyde Park)

Medal events: 34          Athletes: 950

Other than the Marathon Swimming 10km event, held in the Serpentine within Hyde Park, the Swimming competition will take place in the Aquatics Centre, built in the Olympic Park especially for London 2012.

After the Games the Aquatics Centre will become a 2,500-seat venue providing two 50m swimming pools with moveable floors and separation booms, a diving pool and dry diving area for community and elite use.

Diving

Venue: Aquatics Centre – Olympic Park

Dates: Sunday 29 July – Saturday 11 August 2012

Medal events: 8

Athletes: 136 (68 men, 68 women)

The building’s curved concrete diving tower has six diving boards.

The athletes will dive from heights of up to 10m into the waters below.

 Synchronised Swimming

Venue: Aquatics Centre – Olympic Park
Dates: Sunday 5 – Friday 10 August 2012
Medal events: 2
Athletes: 104 (all women)

About the Aquatics Centre:
Construction on the Aquatics Centre began in 2008.

It will be the ‘gateway’ to the Olympic Park, with more than two-thirds of spectators expected to enter the Olympic Park over a vast bridge that runs over the top of part of the venue.

It features a spectacular wave-like roof that is 160m long and up to 80m wide, giving it a longer single span than Heathrow Terminal 5

The majority of spectators will be seated in two temporary wings that will be taken down after the Games.

The Aquatic Centre has a 50m competition pool, a 25m competition diving pool, a 50m warm-up pool and a ‘dry’ warm-up area for divers. The Water Polo competition will be held next to it in the temporary Water Polo Arena, with competition and warm-up pools.

 

Did you know?

The new Aquatics Centre  has been designed by  architect Zaha Hadid and built especially for the London 2012 Games.

The swimming pool for the London 1908 Olympic Games was built on the infield of the Athletics track at White City Stadium, and the competition was held outdoors.

Underwater Swimming featured at the Paris 1900 Games. Competitors earned points for the length of time and distance they were underwater.

 For Synchronised swimming the pool must be a minimum of 20m by 30m, and within that a 12m by 12m area must be at least 3m deep. The water temperature must be 27 degrees celsius, plus or minus one degree.

Evidence of people swimming for sport dates all the way back to Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek times. Now hugely popular around the world as a leisure activity and a competitive sport, Swimming has featured at every modern Games and remains a real Olympic crowd-pleaser.

The Olympic sport of Aquatics includes four disciplines: Synchronised Swimming, Swimming, Water Polo and Diving.

 

Update on 15th February 2010.

What is the latest news on open water swimming?

World 10km  champion Keri-Anne Payne was voted World Open Water Swimmer of the year by American magazine “Swimming World”. Keri-Anne has had two hugely successful seasons, taking Olympic silver in Beijing, where she also competed in the 200m and 400m IM in the pool, then going one step further to win the 2oo9 World Championships in Rome. Open Water Performance Manager, Mark Perry said it was “a great accolade” for the Stockport swimmer, and also commented that it is encouraging to see open water becoming more popular with British distance swimmers.

Below is a Picture of Keri-Anne Payne:

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