The 10 Lane Pool: Deep Meaning for Swimming
Published June 23, 2009
By Dr. Julio Maglione, Honorary Treasurer of the Federation Internationale de Natation
Aquatics World
At the most recent FINA Bureau Meeting held in Dubai (UAE) from March 12-14, 2009, a decision was taken that may seem minor on the surface, but in reality has deeper meaning for Swimming. At the upcoming 13th FINA World Championships in
Primarily, the need and desire to use 10 lanes stems from the ever-increasing participation of swimmers at FINA's main event, which in turn indicates that worldwide swimming numbers are on the rise. This is due, on one hand, to the natural development of swimming in our 201 National Federations worldwide, but on the other hand this growth is directly relate to the increase of FINA's financial assistance to its members.
With a greater number of swimmers to handle at the competition, the use of 10 lanes will benefit in particular those who advance to the semi-finals and finals. The is because in the past, when just eight lanes were used for the heats, each event, took longer to complete and so the preliminary swimming sessions often ended later in the day, meaning swimmers who qualified for the next round might have insufficient recovery time before they had to swim again, in more crucial races. Thus, this change presents an advantage to our swimmers, whose interests are always our first priority.
However, the switch to using 10 lanes is also part of a wider effort to foster the improvement of swimming infrastructure and technical equipment worldwide. By setting an example at the highest level of swimming competition, the successful use of 10 lanes on a global stage will gradually encourage more National Federations to build larger pools and compact the format of their meets in the future. If this measure will cause an improvement on the facilities worldwide, it constitutes also a recognition that much has changed in the latest years concerning the construction of pools, namely with the possibilities created by the fast developing technology of the temporary facilities.
FINA recognizes that these are fast times in our sport, especially when it comes to infrastructure and technology development and the decision to make use of additional lanes is but one example of how high performance swimming is being taken to another level by introducing new equipment, or alternative ways of using it.
Moreover, these changes are all examples of FINA's conscience of the equipment's evolution, governed by our main objective of maintaining the integrity of the sports we represent.
The use of 10 lanes at the upcoming World Championships will also benefit another interest group crucial to the success of our events and our sports in general: the media, particularly those in television. These are also fast times in what has become a highly-competitive, high-stakes world of sports marketing, and for this reason we must strive to present our main events in the most audience-friendly manner, which, in turn, attracts more media organizations and facilities their work of transmitting broadcasts and articles about our champions to people in more parts of the world. Needless to say the needs of the media are of the utmost importance when planning our main event, and the competitive efficiency generated by the use of 10 lanes is one way for FINA to respond.
Having made these points, it is easier to see how a decision like using 10 lanes in heats - a change that appears rather minor - can have far-reaching effects on our main sport. In these fast-changing times, we must remain alert and with due consideration of how evolution affects all our interest groups - especially our athletes - it becomes clear that it is necessary to stay competitive in the modern international sports industry.
