Rio pool had a current in it per Swimswam

This explains why they have so many "ties", as it's unfair conditions to begin.

Riding the Wave wrote:

https://swimswam.com/problem-rio-pool/

According to swimswam analysis, the Rio pool had a current that favored certain lanes in certain directions.

Great article and analysis! Basically suggests the 50 free is a total farce, too.

It's also probably short. Drain it and Wheel It!

Good article! Good work by swimswam

No ... each lane has the same amount of current it hurts you one way and helps in the other. It's only the 50m Free that is unfair because you only swim it one way and some lanes were better than others in that direction.

Swimswam is awesome.

That is all.

Alltimes in swimming are aqual wrote:

This explains why they have so many "ties", as it's unfair conditions to begin.

It's nearly impossible to produce a tie like that. The only thing that could feasibly ensure a tie with any degree of certainty is rigging the timing system, but even then, it would only work if two swimmers were within a fraction of a second of each other. Otherwise, a winner would clearly be visible to everyone watching.

That is not entirely correct, as you'll end up spending more time fighting against the current than gaining from it

Capedonut wrote:

That is not entirely correct, as you'll end up spending more time fighting against the current than gaining from it

Yes - since most of you here are merely participation medal holders in mathematics, I'll explain it thoroughly:

This isn't like spending 10 minutes at 10mph and 10 minutes at 20 mph to average 15 mph. This is like traveling 1 mile at 10mph and 1 mile at 20mph to average 13.333 mph.

Alltimes in swimming are aqual wrote:

This explains why they have so many "ties", as it's unfair conditions to begin.

Nope. Here is a great article on why there are so many ties. If you don't read it, it says that the timing only goes out to the hundredth of a second. This is because of swim speed per millimeter and the pool build quality that can be guaranteed within certain parameters due to heat expansion and other factors.

800 dude wrote:

Swimswam is awesome.

That is all.

Of course Mel is awesome he swam the 200 Fly

disgraceful_admin wrote:

Capedonut wrote:

That is not entirely correct, as you'll end up spending more time fighting against the current than gaining from it

Yes - since most of you here are merely participation medal holders in mathematics, I'll explain it thoroughly:

This isn't like spending 10 minutes at 10mph and 10 minutes at 20 mph to average 15 mph. This is like traveling 1 mile at 10mph and 1 mile at 20mph to average 13.333 mph.

I ain't real bright.

That was actually helpful. Thanks.

short pool more records wrote:

It's also probably short. Drain it and Wheel It!

Is this how you believe pools are measured in 2016?

I read an article to this effect this morning in the Wall Street Journal and I'm dumbfounded. Don't the folks in charge of swimming put new pools through some tests to be sure this doesn't happen? I can't imagine it's that hard.

I guess this just shows what happens when the students who scrape by with a C- in first-year physics end up graduating with engineering degrees and go to work for companies that design pools.

Another myth debnukedhttps://swimswam.com/myrtha-pools-says-tests-showed-zero-hint-current-problem-rio/

“All I can say is we tested the pool both before the event and after day 3 of the swimming with zero hint of a problem,” he said.

You can view the two tests here and here. Neither appears to show any movement of the test float.

Tiffany also said the analysis showing faster times for certain lanes could have an alternate explanation:

“The fact that certain swimmers swam faster one way than the other and that this differed depending on which side of the pool they swam can perhaps be explained simply by which side they breathe,” he said. “Normally they would be faster when facing their competitors and if this were the case, then their times would clearly be faster in different directions when comparing their swims in lanes 1 & 8.

Not debunked, very insufficient explanation. Why is there significant evidence of a current at Rio but not at the other large meets analyzed in the article?

If you read the article you also saw that for this big meets they actually have tests to see if there are currents, these tests came back negative. I would argue they probably could have better tests than what they used though.

Also the article said there is data that would indicate their might be currents. There isn't enough information to know for sure as they are use prelim heats etc. where swimmers are not swimming at max effort and also are not swimming hard till the end.

The article indicates there could likely be currents, the only way to know for sure is to simply measure for them with more sophisticated means.

Not debunked at all. No comparison. With nobody in the calm pool, they float a basketball on the surface of lane 1 for 60 seconds and it doesn't seem to move.

On the other hand, throw 8 swimmers going balls to the wall doing laps, flip turns, pushing water, kicking, splashing, making bow waves, and a clockwise circulation develops. It's hard to test for those conditions. Throw in the fact that it's outdoors and the wind can have an effect.