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List of swimming pools

This is a list of notable swimming pools, especially full long course ones suited for Olympic competitions (with 10 lanes, just 8 used, and 2m or more deep). This also includes current and past pools with historical or architectural importance. It is not intended to include hot springs pools except where actual swimming, as opposed to bathing or wading, is possible.

Organized swimming as a competitive sport seems to have emerged in England in the 1830s, after the first indoor swimming pool of some type, at St. George's Baths, was opened in 1828. Swimming was included in the first Olympics of modern times, in Athens in 1896, with competition held in the Bay of Zea at Piraeus, about from the stadium where many events were held. In the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, swimming was in the Seine. The 1904 Summer Olympics, the only Olympic games where the yard was the measure for setting racing distances, was held at a lake in Forest Park, in St. Louis, Missouri. The first Olympic swimming pool was used in the 1908 Summer Olympics, in London, outdoors in the infield of White City Stadium (demolished in 1985).

In modern times, an Olympic pool may be used for a competition, and then moved to be used elsewhere. This what happened with pools at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium and the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center of the 2016 Summer Olympics: these were transformed into four 50 meter pools in Manaus (4000 km west of Rio), Salvador de Bahia (1600 km north), Guarantiguetà (250 km west) and Fortaleza de São João (20 km away within Rio). And for the 2028 Summer Olympics, a baseball stadium in Los Angeles will be modified into a temporary aquatics venue to host the swimming, synchronized swimming and diving events.

World Aquatics (Previously FINA) sets standards for swimming pools used in international competitions. Its requirements are not met by many "Olympic-sized" pools; for example of the 15 or more Olympic-sized pools in the Philippines, only the one at New Clark City Aquatics Center is FINA-certified. FINA's requirement that a pool must be 2 meters deep (with 3 meters recommended) is met by some pools elsewhere being adjustable in depth at their shallow ends, such for the competition pool in Tromsø, Norway.

Specialization of Kenya, other East African countries in track, of Cuba in boxing, has been attributed by some to their lack of investment in pools and other athletic facilities. There have been numerous calls within countries for Olympic level facilities, e.g. Kenya below, even in developed nations such as Canada, where the capital region around Ottawa is deemed to be under-served. Just as it is hard for a tropical nation to develop what's needed to be competitive in bobsled, so is it difficult for many nations to afford the upfront and high continuing costs of Olympic pools, given other needs.

In recent years, there has been possibility for some third world countries to obtain needed investment through China's Belt and Road program. "Chinese construction companies also helped the Government of Kenya build a US$52 million sports stadium with a seating capacity of 60,000 people, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and a modern gymnasium to host the fourth All-Africa games ..." Plan for initiative to build an Olympic stadium in Kuwait.

Swimming pools, worldwide, are numerous. For the facilities that have actually been used in an Olympics, see List of Olympic venues in swimming. For very large ones, see List of largest swimming pools.

Facilities by nation include:

Algeria

Piscine du Complexe Olympique, Algiers, used in 2007 All-Africa Games. The 1978 All-Africa Games were also held in Algiers.

Argentina

Australia

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

50 m pools in Canada, from west to east, include:

British Columbia:

  • Vancouver Aquatic Centre, West End, Vancouver, a City of Vancouver facility, has a 50 m pool, and has 1m and 3m diving boards and a diving tower with 5 m, 7.5 m, and 10 m height platforms.

Alberta:

Manitoba:

Ontario: Toronto

  • Aquatics Centre, Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre (2014), Toronto, Ontario, built for the 2015 Pan American Games has two Olympic sized swimming pools and a diving well
  • Donald D. Summerville Olympic Pool, at Woodbine Beach, Toronto and East York, has an elevated 50 m Olympic size pool overlooking Lake Ontario, a 25 m training pool and a separate diving pool with 5 and 10 metre diving platforms. It was completed in 1963.
  • Etobicoke Olympium in Etobicoke, has an 8 lane, 50 meter pool, and a 25-meter training pool. It also has diving towers attached to the competition. The building was built in 1975 and renovated in 2014 or 2015 for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
  • Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion, outdoor pool along Lakeshore Boulevard West in Toronto
  • Markham Pan Am Centre, has an Olympic size pool, and was opened in November 2015

Ontario: Ottawa

  • Nepean Sportsplex (1971), Ottawa, owned by City of Ottawa, " has a 50 m Olympic pool with diving towers and springboards, and a 25 m family pool
  • Montpetit Hall's pool (well before 1971), University of Ottawa, Ottawa, "lacks spectator space"
  • Carleton University's pool (well before 1971), Ottawa only has six lanes

Ontario: Guelph

Quebec: Montreal:

Nova Scotia: Halifax

Chile

China

Congo

Croatia

Cuba

  • Hotel Nacional de Cuba had a rectangular swimming pool that may have been Olympic-sized
  • Copacabana sea water pool

Dominican Republic

Egypt

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

India

Ireland

Italy

Japan

Kenya

Note: 1985 call in the National Assembly for an Olympic pool, among other facilities, so we are not limited to track events.

Malaysia

Mexico

Monaco

  • Rainier III Nautical Stadium, a salt water Olympic sized pool, constructed in 1961 out of a swimming area that was sectioned off from Monaco's harbor.

Morocco

Mozambique

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nigeria

North Korea

Norway

Norway has four "Olympic-sized" pools, including:

  • Oasen, a public swimming pool built inside a rock cavern in Namsos
  • Indoor pool at Tøyenbadet, Tøyen, Oslo. In 2022, Tøyenbadet was being entirely rebuilt, to reopen in 2023.
  • A pool at Tromsøbadet, Tromsø, Norway's northernmost competition pool. The pool meets the requirements for national and international competitions. At the shallow end of the pool the depth can be adjusted from .

Other pools include:

Pakistan

"Unfortunately, in Pakistan there is actually a lack of swimming pools and facilities. There is only one swimming pool in the entire country of international quality, ... At the age of thirteen, she became Pakistan's first female Olympic swimmer at the 2004 Summer Olympic games."

Peru

Philippines

There were 15 Olympic-sized () pools and more being built, as of 2019, in the Philippines, and about 20 other 50-meter pools.

Poland

Russia

South Africa

South Korea

  • Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool (1980), in Seoul Olympic Park, which hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics. It has an outdoor 50m x 25m, 10-lanes pool, an indoor 50m x 12.5m 5-lane pool, and an indoor 25m x 25m diving pool with 1m and 3m diving boards and 1m, 3m, 5m, 7.5m and 10m diving platforms.
  • K-26, a pool with depth , the deepest swimming pool of its kind in Asia (vs. Taiwan's Divecube with depth ).

Spain

Sweden

  • List of swimming pools in Sweden

Taiwan

  • Divecube, in Taichung, a deep pool asserted to be deepest swimming pool of its kind in Asia, since submarined by K-26 in South Korea.

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

The UK has numerous Olympic-size pools itemized in List of long course swimming pools in the United Kingdom. Selected ones from that list, and other notable pools of the UK include:

England

Scotland

Wales

United States

Arizona

California

Georgia

Illinois

Michigan

Missouri

  • Shaw Park, Clayton, a near suburb of St. Louis. It has an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Nebraska

New York

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Virginia

Washington

Zimbabwe

See also

References