Sport question: Middle Lanes?

[BobT]

For the record, this is the rule governing the placement of swimmers from the FINA website.

SW 3.1.2 Except for 50 metre events in 50 metre pools, assignment of lanes shall be (number 1 lane being on the right side of the pool when facing the course from the starting end) by placing the fastest swimmer or team in the centre lane in pool with an odd number of lanes, or in lane 3 or 4 respectively in pools having 6 or 8 lanes. The swimmer having the next fastest time is to be placed on his left, then alternating the others to right and left in accordance with the submitted times. Swimmers with identical times shall be assigned their lane positions by draw within the aforesaid pattern.

The rules in track are a little different.

For races from 100m to 800m (and the two relays), the rule is that the top four runners that have qualified are randomly drawn into lanes 3,4, 5 and 6. The last four are randomly assigned to the outer or inner lanes (1-2, 7-8)