Canberra's pipeline to producing future Olympic swimming champions like Emma McKeon and Kaylee McKeown is under serious threat, with two of the city's crucial 50-metre pools facing an uncertain future.
The Pool Predicament
The heart of Canberra's swimming community is beating with concern as development plans put two essential training facilities at risk. At Big Splash, the owner has committed to building a new modern facility but notably omitted any guarantee about preserving the existing 50m outdoor pool. Meanwhile, the Phillip pool controversy continues, where plans indicate the current outdoor 50m pool will be replaced by an indoor 25m pool.
The ACT government maintains that a 25m pool sufficiently serves Woden's needs, but this position puts them at odds with Australia's peak swimming body.
Swimming Australia Sounds Alarm
Swimming Australia chief executive Rob Woodhouse has delivered a stark warning about the consequences of losing 50m facilities. 25m pools are never big enough to cater for demand across the community, swimming and other aquatic sports, Woodhouse emphasised.
Woodhouse highlighted the critical role these facilities play beyond elite athlete development. It's imperative to have adequate 50m pools. It's not just for those elite athletes. We have Olympians and Paralympians being developed all around the country, including the ACT, he stated.
The swimming chief revealed that Canberra clubs already struggle with insufficient water space for proper training. We know the swimming clubs there already don't have enough water space to train to a level the athletes need to, Woodhouse confirmed.
Long-term Vision Versus Immediate Needs
A potential solution exists in the form of a new aquatic centre planned for Commonwealth Park, a joint project between ACT and federal governments with an estimated cost of $137.8 million. However, the project currently lacks a completion timeline, leaving swimmers in limbo.
Woodhouse stressed the long-term value of such investments. This particular centre, there's always a lot of talk about the costs and things, but this is a facility that will last for 30, 40, 50 years, and will more than pay for itself very quickly, he argued.
The Swimming Australia CEO pointed to the Sydney 2000 Olympics as evidence of how major events drive participation. We saw a big surge in demand for a whole lot of sports, for people just participating. Swimming certainly benefited from that, Woodhouse recalled, expressing hope for similar benefits leading into the Brisbane 2032 Games.
With Canberra's population growing, Woodhouse expressed confidence that any new facility would immediately operate at capacity, underscoring the urgent need for action to preserve the city's swimming future.
