SWIMMING UPSTREAM
Windsor pool blacklisted until currents in outside lanes fixed
Swimming Canada won’t hold any more national competitions at the state-of-the-art Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre until peculiar currents that put some swimmers at an unfair disadvantage during a major meet in April are fixed.
In an April 25 national memorandum to swimming coaches and clubs across the country, CEO Ahmed El-Awadi expresses sincere regret over “any inconvenience which may have been occasioned by the pool conditions” during the 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships.
He pledges to work with the City of Windsor to “permanently resolve the issue and ensure that the Windsor Aquatic Centre remains one of Canada’s premier facilities for competition.”
A Swimming Canada spokesman, Nathan White, confirmed this week that “we would not be able to host a national competition there until this issue is resolved in a permanent fashion.” The organization thinks the problem is definitely fixable.
“It’s a little bit of a shame because Windsor has shown such leadership in building that facility and hosting the world short course (championship, at the WFCU Centre) and all the other events, swimming and diving,” White said. The aquatic centre is “undoubtedly” one of the best facilities for competition in Canada, according to the memorandum. “It’s been all good news out of Windsor in the big picture,” White said. “But this was an unfortunate happening and we hope it can be resolved,”
City officials are hurrying to bring in experts in the next month, including technicians from the Italian firm, Myrtha Pools, that manufactured Windsor’s 71-metre, 10-lane pool — one of only about three in the province capable of hosting internationallevel meets. Combined with Adventure Bay water park, it cost $78 million to build and opened five years ago to rave reviews from the swimming community. From a sports tourism perspective, its big meets draw upwards of 1,000 swimmers and officials, plus their families and supporters.
“Our goal is to continue hosting because we know that we are an amazing city and facility to be hosting these events,” the city’s manager of aquatic services Jen Knight said, detailing the efforts made to address the complaints from swimmers and coaches during the event. She’s confident the experts coming in the next month will get to the bottom of the problem.
“We’re not sure what may be discovered, but we want to make sure that anything that is discovered, that it’s fixed.”
The problems are in the outer two lanes on each side of the pool, explained Windsor Essex Swim Team head coach Andrei Semenov.
The current goes north on one side of the pool and south on the other. That means that during a race there are two competitors swimming against the current and two swimming with it. Most races involve distances that are multiples of two lengths — two, four, eight, etc. — so the disadvantages and advantages even out somewhat, though even that’s not ideal. But 50-metre races are just one length.
“It’s an advantage for certain people and a disadvantage for other people. That’s completely not fair,” said Semenov, who believes the current problem translates to perhaps a one-tenth of a second advantage or disadvantage per length.
“For kids, that’s nothing, that’s such a small amount of time. But for higher levels where they count every one-hundredth, it’s a big difference, to make the final or not make the final, to win gold medal or finish third.” Swimming Canada did an analysis of results and lane comparisons during the meet and concluded that only the 50-metre events held on Day 2 were skewed. It granted affected swimmers a re-swim in an official time trial. This allowed them to improve their times to help them qualify for other events or teams, but that didn’t change the medal results from the actual event.
It’s essential for the city to promptly fix the problem, said Semenov, who noted the economic benefit brought to the downtown whenever there’s a big meet here. Hotels are full, restaurants are busy and sidewalks are full of swimmers and their families. “It’s a great facility, but right now it can’t be used for championship meets.”
So far, the problem has eluded swimming and city officials. According to the memorandum, they were made aware in late February of a “potential issue,” and conducted tests, that led to a more comprehensive “FINA appreciable current test” on April 10, two days before the start of the Eastern Canadian Championships. That test showed there was no surface current.
But as soon as the races started April 12, coaches started complaining. A second FINA test was performed with the same results. “At this point, Swimming Canada (was) concerned that notwithstanding the results of the FINA test, there must be an issue with the current below the surface,” the memorandum states. So the pump flow rate was lowered by 40 per cent. While the results improved, the problem was not resolved.
Then on April 13, Day 2 of the event, the mayor’s office was contacted “to formally request that the pumps be fully turned off during competition.”
The mayor’s office responded quickly, but couldn’t OK a full turnoff — the health unit wouldn’t allow it for public health reasons. The flow was reduced to 20 per cent of capacity as a “special exemption.” There were no more problems reported for the remainder of the meet.
To create an absolutely still pool is almost impossible due to requirements to keep water filtered, chemically treated and flowing, according to White, who has worked in aquatics for 30 years. “Every pool has water movement. Otherwise you end up with a swamp.” “Our goal is to make sure we’re providing the best field of play for athletes. And we think that in working with Myrtha and having them come in and go through the testing protocol over the next month and make any adjustments, we’ll take care of any concerns that are there.”
The swimming season is winding down, with one more big meet scheduled at the pool in July, she said. The city is hoping to fix the problem before then, and before the resumption of big meets starting next fall. Swimming Canada’s Knight said that the organization must be sure the pool has a fair water situation, where current isn’t affecting certain lanes. Windsor’s other swim club, the Windsor Aquatic Club, actually hosted the Eastern Canadian Championships, and president Chris Baker said he’s confident the city will solve the problem.
“If I felt for one second that I did not feel the facility was taking action, my response would be completely different,” Baker said, adding that complaints about unfair current affecting swimming results are not uncommon, including at the Rio Olympics. “We’re definitely 100 per cent pleased with this facility,” he said. “It’s one of the premier facilities in Ontario if not Canada.”