As the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics approaches, marathon and triathletes are outraged at the amount of fecal bacteria found in the Seine, where they will be swimming.
Swimming in the Seine has been banned since 1923, but Olympic organizers have invested $1.5 billion to bring the river's water to safer standards ahead of the 2024 Paris Games. But it hasn't been without backlash: In June, Parisians threatened to defecate in the river in protest at France spending so much money on cleaning up the river instead of contributing to society.
Fortunately, this won't be the only Olympic swimming venue at the Paris 2024 Games.
How many gallons are in an Olympic swimming pool?
While there are no strict requirements, Olympic swimming pools typically hold 660,000 gallons of water. By comparison, residential pools typically hold only 15,000-48,000 gallons.
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How do we calculate 660,000? Let's do some math. To find the volume of a rectangular prism, we need to multiply its length, width, and height.
According to World Aquatics (formerly International Swimming Federation), the governing body for competitive water sports, Olympic pools must be 50 meters long and at least 2 meters deep. Artistic swimming pools are recommended to be deeper, 3 meters. Using lane dimension requirements, we found that Olympic pools are typically 25 meters wide.
Converting these numbers from meters to feet, rounding and multiplying gives you 88,261.92 cubic feet. Converting to fluid gallons gives you 660,245 or a similar number depending on how you round.
When does Olympic swimming start?
The first Olympic swimming events will take place on July 27. The women's race will take place from 5am to 3:37pm ET, and the men's race will take place from 5am to 3:50pm ET. Find our Olympic Games viewing guide and the complete Paris 2024 schedule here.
According to NBC Olympics, most of the swimming events will take place in La Défense Arena's 660,000-gallon Olympic pool, while the triathlon and marathon swimming events will take place on the Seine River.
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