Reports indicate that many Olympic swimmers may urinate in their lanes during competitions.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article titled “The Dirty Secret of Olympic Swimming: Everyone Pees in the Pool.” The article explains that every swimmer who jumps into the Paris La Défense Arena pool will likely urinate there.
Several experienced Olympic athletes have admitted to this practice. Lilly King, the breaststroke gold medalist from the 2016 Rio Olympics and a competitor in her third Olympics this year, confessed, “I’ve probably peed in every single pool I’ve swam in.” She added calmly, “That’s just how it goes.”
Zach Harting, who represented the U.S. at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, shared a similar experience from his high school days. Harting revealed that he urinated in the pool while wearing his swimsuit, saying, “The world changed for me.” “Every time I went to a pool after that, I only considered myself to have swam in it if I peed in it.”
The discomfort of competitive swimsuits is cited as a reason for this behavior. Swimmers wear tight-fitting suits that compress their muscles to reduce water resistance. However, this strong compression makes the suits challenging to put on and take off.
Once removed, putting a swimsuit back on can take up to 20 minutes. Combined with frequent hydration, which increases the need to urinate, athletes often find it difficult to visit the restroom between their events.
There is an unspoken rule about not urinating when others are nearby.
This practice is facilitated by the large amounts of chlorine used in swimming pools. Experts continuously manage water quality to ensure that even if swimmers urinate in the pool, it does not pose a significant problem.
Brian Spear, who managed the water quality at the swimming pool during the U.S. Olympic trials, told the Wall Street Journal that they constantly adjusted the pH and chlorine levels throughout the nine days of trials to keep the water clean for the 1,000 athletes competing in the pool.
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