Mountbatten Centre’s swimming pool fails to qualify for Olympic standards, County to face loss during Olympics
Mountbatten Centre’s 50 m Olympic sized swimming pool situated in Portsmouth has been declared short by two inches to clear the Olympic swimming pool standards. The pool was scheduled to be used in the upcoming London Olympics 2012.
The pool constituted an investment of £5 million and was considered up to the Olympic standards but is not eligible for the games anymore. Officials have confessed that the pool was portrayed to be of Olympic standards. The Tories, a British political party,
has pointed their finger at a liberal democrats group on this issue.
The eight lane swimming pool will become two inches short after installation of the time board touch systems. These touch systems are a necessity for the Olympic Games and are must to be installed in the swimming pool. With the installation of these systems,
world class swimmers will not prefer training in the pool because of its short length.
Jim Fleming, Tory councilor said: 'It's a mistake. It's not long enough to meet Olympic standards.”
On the other hand, democrats refused to admit this issue as a blunder saying that there is no need for the touch system. They claim that swimmers can use the pool for training with their timings measured outside the pool through a stop watch. The competitions
can be held in the same manner.
Another Tory member, Doanna Jones, said though the swimming pool was not to be used for 2012 Olympics swimming events but the training centre was to be used by the Olympic athletes. “The way it was sold to us was we would be hosting an Olympic team of swimmers
for training for the 2012 games” she said.
The swimming pool to be used for Olympic swimming events is under construction at the moment. Most professional swimmers won’t acknowledge their training times to be based on a stop watch technique.
The Tory Councilor stressed that the cabinet has failed to deliver a quality standard pool. It should admit it mistakes and apologize to the city. She further added that being a host for Olympic athletes was going to help in generating millions of pounds
of income and attracting huge amounts of funding. With a few months left before the Games, organizers get to know that the pool is short and can’t be used for training by Olympic swimmers. The cabinet should apologize to the city as this will cost the estimated
amount of revenue plus the pool cost to the city.
The council invested £20 million on the entire project. The pool is certified from UK’s Amateur Swimming Association and an international swimming federation. The pool was designed to have standard eight lanes, with one empty lane
on each side. An additional pool of 12.5 m was also attached with the pool for swimming lessons.
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