Welcome to “Musings On a Topic I Know Nothing About”, where I muse, discuss, ask questions about and generally BS for a while on a topic I know nothing about
Competitive Swimming & chemicals. How long have we been putting chemicals in the water where we swim competitively? Are there regulations about what chemicals to use and how much of them?
Someone defines the lane length and width, height of the starting platform, legality of suit materials, etc. Do they also regulate pool additives? How long have they been doing that, and was there a noticeable difference in records when they started?
Do the chemicals have any effect on the swimmers' speed? In other words, take your typical Olympic pool, and then one filled with water but with no chemicals added. Do the swimmers perform better, worse or the same?
My guess is that the effect is absent or so small as to be unnoticeable. But I don’t know… Hmm…
This has been “Musings On a Topic I Know Nothing About.”