With just two days of swimming competition remaining at the 2024 Olympics, only one world record had been set at the Games—by Pan Zhanle of China in the men’s 100-meter freestyle event.
The prevailing theory from experts was that the shallow depth of the temporary pool built for the Olympics was causing slower times than expected. With less space below the swimmers, the waves created were bouncing off the bottom of the pool and making the water unusually turbulent.
At only 2.15 meters deep, the pool constructed in a converted rugby stadium is shallower than the depth of 3 meters recommended by World Aquatics. In fact, World Aquatics’ current minimum standard is 2.5 meters, but the plans for 2024 were approved while the standard was still 2 meters.
Scientific American, though, wrote an analysis stating that “whether there are disturbing currents in the pool in the Paris La Défense Arena cannot yet be determined.”
Indeed, the swimming results normalized a bit on the final day of events, with Bobby Finke setting a world record in the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle and the American team winning the women’s 4×100 meter medley relay in record time.
All in all, 21 Olympic records were set in Paris, four of which were world records. Both of those totals were the lowest since the 1996 Olympics, but they are not stark outliers. The 2012 and 2016 Olympics saw 23 and 25 Olympic records broken, respectively, and the 2020 Olympics featured only six world records.
This year looks like a small downward blip historically when compared to the anomalous 2008, when Speedo introduced its LZR swimsuit designed to repel water and make the body more hydrodynamic. In the Beijing Olympics, 25 world records and 65 Olympic records were broken, many by swimmers who were wearing the new suit, which was banned two years later. Many of those records from the super suit era took years to fall, and some are still being chased.
Even with changes in technology, equipment and pools, humans will eventually push up against physiological limits, so it isn't a given that world records will be broken at a consistent pace over time. Thus, the jury is still out on how much the depth of the pool affected the results of swimmers this year.
“I think it’s totally a myth,” American Regan Smith, who won five medals in Paris, told NBCOlympics.com.
