# Olympic Size Pools

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-size-pools/21082>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 1, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-size-pools/21082 "2000-06-01T05:10:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Manlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Manlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manlob)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-size-pools/21082/1 "2000-06-01T05:10:42Z")

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I am always seeing apartment complexes and health clubs claiming to have “Olympic size swimming pools”. When I see these pools they are always 25 yards or less long, but I know the pools used in the Olympics are 50 meters long. Does “Olypic size” correspond to a particular size in the pool buisness, or does it just apply to anything bigger than a hot tub?

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-size-pools/21082/2 "2000-06-01T05:41:28Z")

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“Olympic” size pool is a marketing ploy by realtors to get you to believe that there is a big pool on the property.

A pool used for an international swim meet is 50 meters long and usually is wide enough to include eight lanes, plus two empty spaces on each side to help dampen out any waves.

Plus, there is usually a warmup pool behind the pool used for competition.

And the pool would be of uniform depth.

The lane ropes really make it hard to perform belly flops.

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-size-pools/21082/3 "2000-06-01T06:13:51Z")

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Read that copy again. Does it say Olympic size…or Olympic _style?_

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**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2000, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-size-pools/21082/4 "2000-06-01T06:17:45Z")

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I have a physique that is comfortably large. I do not have broad shoulders and a slender waist. And yet, last time I bought a suit, the salesperson described me as an “athletic fit”. Athletic is the last phrase that would come to my mind to describe my “fit”, but my guess is he learned this phrase the same place the advertisers learned that any pool you don’t actually have to inflate is “Olympic Size”.

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**Author:** ![Manlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Manlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manlob)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-size-pools/21082/5 "2000-06-04T19:52:07Z")

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Doing a web search for “Olympic size pool” turns up over 10,000 hits. Most seem to be hotels and motels claiming to have pools of this size. The implication of the following site is that pools used for Olympic swimming are not “Olympic size”:

[http://www.sfbaytraveler.com/water/stories/ari30601.htm](http://www.sfbaytraveler.com/water/stories/ari30601.htm)

[quote]  
Brentwood Recreation: The World War II-era heated pool drops from 3½ to 9 feet, has six lanes and measures 35 meters long, making it larger than Olympic-size pools.[\quote]