Ponds Forge - Olympic-sized Swimming Pool

Olympic-sized Swimming Pool

The 50 metre pool at Ponds Forge is one of nine in the United Kingdom built to current World and Olympic standards, and home to many sporting events. The main pool hall is 90 m long by 60 m wide and when the arches for the roof were constructed temporary supports for them were necessary. When these were removed it "settled" 150 mm. It has two movable bulkheads (so the main tank can be split into 2 or 3 individual pools) and the floors at the end quarters can be raised or lowered from surface level down to 2 m depth. In its long course mode with the bulkheads at the extreme ends it has 10 lanes. If used "width ways" up to twenty 25 m lanes are available. A sophisticated ozone water treatment system is employed that results in lower levels of irritants and reduced toxicity compared with traditional methods of treatment. The quality of the pool means that a great many events are held there which creates valuable exposure for the city of Sheffield and brings in much revenue for the city's hotels etc. The down side is the consequent unavailability for its regular users whilst those events are being held. A number of world records have been set in the pool although only one was long course. The latter was in the heats of the European Championships on the 3 August 1993 when Károly Güttler of Hungary went 1.00.95 to set a new world mark in the 100 m breaststroke. As well as competition-level swimming, the pool is also used for lessons, diving, kayaking and scuba diving. It is also open to the general public for lane swimming.