How deep is the Olympic swimming pool? Everything to know about its dimensions, capacity

Swimming will be a major part of the 2024 Olympic schedule in its opening week with the events taking place at Paris La Défense Arena.

Europe's largest indoor arena, it opened in 2017 as the home of rugby union club Racing 92. Its movable seating configurations also allow it to be used for concerts, basketball and, for the Paris Games, aquatic sports such as swimming, water polo and artistic swimming.

The two temporary Olympic pools inside the arena were constructed by the same Italian company (Piscine Castiglione) that built pools for the Summer Games in Atlanta, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo.

How big is an Olympic swimming pool?

World Aquatics regulations require an Olympic-sized swimming pool to be 50 meters, or approximately 164 feet, long. This measurement is taken from end to end of the pool, including the touch pads used for timing. It must have a minimum depth of two meters.

The eight lanes used in Olympic competition have to be at least 2.5 meters wide.

How deep is the Olympic swimming pool in Paris?

The pool at Paris La Défense Arena is 2.15 meters deep, slightly less than the depth of the pool at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Swimmers tend to prefer a deeper pool because it generally results in calmer waters and faster times.

How many gallons are in an Olympic swimming pool?

There’s no exact requirement, but Olympic swimming pools generally have 660,000 gallons of water. Residential pools, for comparison, typically only contain 15,000 to 48,000 gallons.

How many laps is 1,500 meters?

In a standard 50-meter pool such as the one at the Paris Olympics, a 1500-meter race will take 30 laps.

How many feet is 1,500 meters?

A 1500-meter race is equivalent to just over 4921 feet – or 0.932 miles.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympic swimming pool: Dimensions, depth for water events