Owen Gibson tries out London's new Olympic pool
Now I know how Eric the Eel felt. Although, in truth, such was my tortuous progress down the pristine 50m Olympic pool which next summer will host Michael Phelps and Rebecca Adlington, that's a bit cruel on the Equatoguinean slowcoach who achieved fleeting fame at the Sydney Games in 2000.
Testing out the centrepiece of the newly minted �269m Aquatics Centre seemed a good idea when proposed by 2012's organisers. But with 25 flailing metres gone and stopping not an option, given the 3m depth of the pool, the thought occurred that this was payback for stories of budget overruns and unravelling legacy promises.
The water was cold ? competition pools are kept several degrees cooler than the shallow end of Deptford Wavelengths leisure pool which I'm used to ? as well as deep. The synchronised swimmers who had gone before us told me that the water felt "smooth", and waxed lyrical about its underwater music speakers. I was much too busy trying to stop my head pounding and ears bursting to notice.
Like the organisation of the 2012 games itself, all remained relatively calm on the surface while underneath I was flailing furiously.
Having foolishly accepted a challenge to race my opposite number from the Times, I set off at an ambitious pace while she wisely conserved energy. By 30m, however, all visions of Olympic glory were replaced by memories of school swimming lessons, heavy limbs tiring as though weighed down by pyjamas.
Though my goggles were fogged, out of the corner of one eye I could still make out Boris Johnson's distinctive mane submerged under a scrum of poolside photographers. These perhaps aren't challenges Phelps and Co will have to contend with. As I tired, my opponent overhauled me to triumph by at least a couple of seconds. The only consolation was that, two lanes down, the man from Channel 4 News was being destroyed by Olympic silver medallist David Davies.
A rather more leisurely backstroke return afforded me a better view of the sweeping lines of this Zaha Hadid designed structure, the vertiginous stands that will house 17,500 ticketholders and the natural light that bathes it.
While the exterior of the building, with two ugly "water wings" jammed on either side as temporary stands, fails to convince ? though it will look great in legacy mode once they are removed ? from the inside the view is suitably inspiring.
Davies, more used to tearing up 30 lengths in the 1500m freestyle than the pitiful three I managed, was equally impressed. Unsurprisingly, he was less enamoured with my front crawl. "You've got to do more swimming, you've got to do more training. Technique and hard work," he said.
Perhaps I'll wait until after the games, when the movable floors will allow for a shallow end, and the as yet unnamed legacy operator will have been encouraged to include "a range of portable water features and inflatable equipment to maximise the leisure offer within the building".
In the meantime, I'm happy to leave it to the experts.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jul/27/london-olympic-swimming-pool
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