Hosting the world's best in anything is always cool

FROM B14 facility, had only months to turn empty space into a polished competition venue. No wonder, its director Ko Chee Wah rightly says with a gentle smile that he feels "proud".

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In 1896, at the first Olympics, swimmers competed in the Bay of Zea where ancient war galleys, propelled by oarsmen, used to be built. Swimmers have since competed in the Seine River in 1900, trained in their neighbour's pool during Covid-19, and qualified for the Asian Games while practising in salt-water pools cordoned off from the ocean with seaweed and eels as company.

So this pool is a privilege where every detail has been carefully calibrated. The water temperature is at 25-28 deg C; the extra lanes on either side help reduce wave turbulence; the starting blocks with their rough surface to prevent slipping are the same as the Paris Olympics; and the line of sight for spectators has been considered. If art needs a stage, science helps build it.