The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 116

SWIMMING WATER POLO smh.com.au Monday, September 18, 2000 Calming the waters for Homebush Bay's wave of record-breakers 8 FAST TIMES HOW THE MODERN POOL AIDS THE SWIMMER 1 SWIMMING CregP aum PoolwalD JP" JJX-gi I profile Sjylsc poat Lack of turbulence Turbulence makes it harder for a swimmer to penetrate the water. A wet deck, or water return, at the sides of the pool significantly reduces reflected wave patterns. Depth of water at 3m. Shallow water can lead to reflective turbulence from the bottom of the pool. The minimum FINA requirement for Olympics and world championships is 2m.

Innovative design techniques applied to the walls and floor of pool to reduce drag. Lane ropes Plastic anti-wave lane ropes prevent backwash between lanes. Temperature comfort Cold conditions prevent fast swimming. The water temperature is set at the FINA standard of 27 degrees Celsius. The pool concourse is served by a ventilation system that keeps the air temperature approximately two degrees above the pool temperature.

Starting blocks Slope, hand and foot grips are now designed to allow swimmers a fast start. The blocks are no longer flat and are angled toward the high-tech. The old State swimming centre in Batman Avenue in Melbourne has a pretty good record in records. The North Sydney Pool is more than 60 years old, has a National Trust classification and few pretensions, was filled with a mix of salt and freshwater, yet has been the venue for 88 world records -itself said to be a world record. For all the millions spent on Homebush, at its opening five years ago the designers poured in a bucket of water from the North Sydney pool.

The intangible is psychology. Homebush was at first known as a slow pool because no records were set there in its first five years. It was only a couple of months ago that it began to make a splash. "At the Pan Pacs, once one record went, it just snowballed," said Thomas. Champion American sprinter Gary Hall junior felt it on Saturday night after being beaten into second place by the Australians in the 4 100 metres relay.

"A lot of it is psychological Knowing a lot of records have been broken, it creates said. In the past two days, the crowd has played its part. The attendance on Saturday night was the biggest in Olympic history, and all the swimmers, not just the Australians, were surfing on the crest of a wave of noise. Water quality Clean, clear water assists visibility and makes swimmers feel more comfortable. The pool is treated with ozone to reduce the distractions of taste, smell and possibly stinging eyes that come from chlorine.

Hand rails have been accepted by FINA, giving swimmers an added push from the blocks. Rubber on top of the blocks reduces the possibility of slipping THE Olympic pool is not a metre or two short. Nor is it somehow charged, or on a slope, or have a tide, current or wash. In fact, it is precisely because it creates scarcely a ripple that swimmers are making waves on a scale rarely seen before. Twenty-five world records have been broken at Homebush Bay at meetings in the past two months, five in four races on Saturday night alone.

The spokesman for Australian Swimming, Ian Hanson, said: "Don Talbot Australian coach tipped that all the relay records would go and, at the moment, he's batting two-from-two. This could well be the fastest pool in the world." The most striking feature of the pool is how millpond still it is between events, how little it churns up during races, and how quickly it returns to glassy calm once the swimmers have passed. Even from lap to lap, it is unruffled. Much exertion has gone into the smoothing of Homebush. Designers set out to make it the fastest pool in the world.

these Olympics is so pure you could just about sterilise surgical instruments in it. The lane ropes, once little more than wires, are scientifically designed to eliminate wash between lanes. The starting blocks have been tilted at just the right angle to facilitate speedy starts. The pool is at least 2.5 metres deep throughout so that turbulence does not rebound from the floor (Ian Thorpe is not three metres tall, su'mm, FX fc 11 1 A irfTii 1- 1 n-Tmnrninr ml Roy Masters pool. poolmaker's propaganda, Talbot said that technology had "enabled swimmers to clock faster times, even world But last month he was again a coach.

"I think all pools are made fast," he said. "I subscribe to the theory that when you are ready to swim fast, you'll swim fast in molasses." Kieren Perkins first broke the world 800 metres record in a pool in Blacktown that was scarcely iff victory. ME will wake this morning in a small cottage on the corner of 38th and 39th streets in the athletes village and glance across to his roommate, Michael Klim. Twenty-four hours earlier, Ian Thorpe and Klim woke in the same room as world record-holders and gold medallists from the previous evening's competition and tonight, Thorpe seeks a third gold in the 200 metres freestyle. It seems almost everything in his short life has him rushing to this moment.

While Thorpe has always lived on the intersection of Straight and Narrow, the portable structure in which he stays during the Sydney Olympics gives him access to the elder brother, Klim, he never had. It will be Klim with whom he will discuss last night's semi-finals of the 200m freestyle, where the Netherlands' Pieter van den Hoogenband beat his world record, setting a new mark of one minute 45.35 seconds. The Dutchman now has the top time but Thorpe has the next seven, including last night's 1:45.37. Watching van den Hoogenband's first semi-final in the marshalling area, Thorpe mouthed "wow" at his rival's swim but claimed it did not affect his mission, saying afterwards: "I wanted to do a low LJAU Ian Thorpe celebrates after receiving 1 A Wi 1 and cigarettes, it is double-filtered, firstly through sand carbon to eliminate impurities, then through ozone, which means it needs two-thirds less chlorine than other pools, in turn creating less irritation for the swimmers. "It's a lot cleaner, a lot fresher," Hanson said.

Because ozone is a corrosive gas, $2 million was spent last month to replace all the pipes and vessels in the filtration system. The water for Watch him tonight when his arm enters the water and place a mental stick in the pool where his hand rolls and half-cups as it seeks undisturbed water. The hand will not move. The body shoots by, propelled by the kick of his huge feet, meaning that when the arm next rises from the water, it does so at the same point as your mental stick. Like an oar in the water, his body slices forward, pulled by his powerful upper body muscles that flow rather than bulge.

To us, a race is a windmill of arms, but watch the underwater camera on Thorpe and there are no bubbles near him, as his hand searches, like a lover's palm in the dark, seeking still water. Two weeks ago, in practice for tonight's event, Thorpe swam four laps of the 50 metres pool at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, with his coach holding him for five seconds at the end of the lap. In other words, once Thorpe did his tumble turn with his feet striking the wall, he did not push off vigorously but sat there, waiting for the coach to count down five seconds. Sieben, who was watching, said incredulously: "He broke the world record by two seconds." The secret to swimming is what the athlete does in training. This is why the Australian camp is still worried about the Italian, Massimiliano Rosolini, who qualified third las.t night in 1:46.60.

At lunch on Saturday in the giant dining pavilion at the athletes village, Klim devoured his pasta, saying of the mission of the roommates for their first Olympic gold medal: "Tonight's the big night." Later, sitting on the verandah of their portable home, Matt Dunn was shaving his legs with an electric razor when Thorpe appeared, wearing only briefs. He surveyed the scene quickly and retreated to the security of his three-bedroom dwelling. Today, around 1.30pm, Thorpe and Klim will return to the same dining room for the same pasta. Later tonight, as he lines up for his third gold medal, the mind can play tricks. Little sayings can enter the mind, dragged across the consciousness like so many advertising banners pulled by miniature planes on grand final day: "It's only a 'Tve already got "van den Hoogenband only wants a medal." Yet this yellow-capped, black-suited missile seemed to derive something from his lost record, saying of tonight's final: "There are no certainties, even where Fm concerned." the cossie' count suggests they are also easier to tear apart.

Either that or the Russians are the world's greatest underwater rippers. Australians Yvette Higgins and Simone Hankin finished in their third pair of bathers; several others were forced to change once. "We didn't quite expect that many," said team manager Jeanette Gunn. "They're very good bathers. It says something about the strength of the grabbing." The problem with the new suits, according to Gunn, was that, while tough to grab, once gripped "you can rip She said the Australians would consider reverting to standard suits against the world champion Dutch, "It's all about not creating turbulence, and about the disbursement of energy," said Greg Thomas, venue press manager.

The pool is io lanes wide, rather than the traditional eight. Its wet deck is at water level, so that waves wash over the side and away through sluices rather than rebound into the pool. The water has a different "mineralogy" to your municipal Olympic pool. Like the best beers "GDq 1:45 and that's what I did. Fm looking forward to the final but taking nothing for granted.

"It will take another world record to do it." The Dutchman has revised his self-belief marginally from the morning qualifiers, when he said: "He is just too good for me. I just want to get a medal." Before Thorpe's second semi, he said of his world record mark: "I don't think it will stand very long." Even when he knew he had the record for at least 24 hours, he said: "I surprised myself with the swim," but said it was the result of the additional energy he derived from the Dutch 4x100m relay team being disqualified. So, what will be Klim's counsel? Simply, that his roommate has lost a world record but is still unbeaten. I'm looking forward to the final but taking nothing for granted. It will take another world record to do it.

Ian Thorpe Only 17, Thorpe is a child without a childhood. He didn't grow up. He slid up, giving the impression he bypassed adolescence on the way to becoming a self-assured adult. He regularly climbs out of the pool and into an advertising campaign, carrying his sport with him. Yet his pillowy soft demeanour, big eyes and gentle face reflect what is essentially a good kid.

Australian team officials say he has zealously taken to communal life, one manager saying: "He is into everything." Klim agrees, saying: "You guys see the well-spoken adult. We see the 17-year-old Ian Thorpe who comes back to the room every night and makes us laugh." He is not as self-centred or focused as Grant Hackett, who qualified seventh-fastest last night, ironically earning his place because Klim stepped aside for him. Yet the "Thorpedo" has been described by 1984 gold medallist Jon Sieben as "the best there is, perhaps Thorpe's seeming invincibility derives from his love affair with the water. Two months ago, he explained to me how he seduces the water, seeking a feel for it, a touch that is more sensitive than sunburn. Australians may have to revert to their more basic bathers for today's clash with the Netherlands.

The no-grab bathers were first seen at an international event in the US this year and Australia, concerned their rivals might be gaining a winged keel-like advantage from the slippery bathers, decided to follow suit for the Olympics. "We needed to get them because all the other teams have them," explained captain Bridgette Gusterson. "You can't really get any friction from them." The nylon-spandex swimsuits, which look like an abbreviated wetsuit, might be difficult to grab as a handful but, unfortunately for their promoters, yesterday's bather he is standing on a submerged ledge at race's end)." The floor and walls are textured to absorb energy. The water temperature is kept at 27 degrees, one above the world body FINA's standard, and the air temperature at 29, calculated so that swimmers do not lose body heat or waste energy outside the water. Still, the chicken-and-egg question remains: which came first, fast pools or fast swimmers? In the the gold medal for his 400m freestyle wrestle.

At 5-3, with a quarter remaining, the result was all but sealed. "Sometimes you have to pull your finger out and have to do something like that," said Gusterson of her goal, which came after Australia missed three gettable shots. Of the other goal, she said: 'Tve never seen Melissa do something like that before." Australia are the only team to have won both of their preliminary matches, with the USA and Canada fighting out a thrilling 8-8 draw last night. The Americans levelled o.4sec from full-time to hand the Canadians their second draw in as many matches. LiLMAi 1 iff, I IS" 'l fey 11 Australia 6 Russia 3: US 8 Canada 8 Ian Thorpe jokes brother he never Russian ss with Michael Klim, 'the elder had'.

Photo: Mike Bowers maulers play 'rip but Australian women wrap up Photo: Vince Caligiuri victory WATER POLO WOMEN'S PRELIMINARIES Jake Niall It was a ripping match. Highly competitive and physical, 10 pairs of the new high-tech swimsuits worn by the Australian women were torn before they overcame the considered before the Olympics as their main rivals for gold. The grappling underwater stalled the Australians for about half the match before finally working to their advantage. As Gusterson observed, the strongly built Russians became tired by the physical nature of the game. "They're a very heavy team," Gusterson said.

"I knew that they would tire eventually." The critical period was the final minute of the third quarter, when Gusterson and Melissa Mills scored brilliant goals the former from a long shot after winning a struggle for possession, the latter from a deft backhand flick. At 3-3, it had been an arm- ripping Russians in yesterdays water polo wrestle at Ryde. In confirming themselves as gold medal favourites with a 6-3 victory, the Australians' stocks of the newest advance in water polo technology the no-grab bathers were severely depleted. As a consequence of yesterday's "Battle of wounded the iW- Australia's Taryn Woods shoots against Russia. Photo: Orlando Chiodo 1 CM.