Craig Lord’s Swim-Vortex Facebook page tells me that FINA has sent the IOC a Report asking for the Olympic Games swimming events to be held in a 25m pool. FINA are not pushing for the change to happen next week. They are happy for Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 to continue being held in a 50m pool. But after that, they say, the Olympic Games’ swimming events should change to 25m pools.

What a brilliant idea.

But wait, there is more. FINA have also recommended that the current army of officials who start, time-keep and judge swimming competitions be replaced by robots and cameras.

What another brilliant idea.

Let’s look at each of the recommendations. First the change to 25m. That is good, mainly because it would add to the gladiatorial nature of the competition. Instead of spectators at the “turn” end of a 50m pool having no idea who is winning at the “finish” end, spectators everywhere, in a 25m pool stadium, can see all the action. And events seem to happen much more quickly in the more intimate 25m setting. It offers the exciting prospect of spectators turning up to see the show. In a 50m pool that is a distant prospect.

When FINA first introduced the 25m World Cup circuit, some of the events were fantastic. Malmo, in Sweden, led the way. At the end of each final the stadium was plunged into darkness. And a spotlight picked out the winner, who would swim backdown the pool in a circle of light. It was spinetingling stuff. Imagine what lighting could do at an Olympic Games in a 25m pool. Before the finals introducing the swimmers could be spotlighted. After each final winning lanes could be illuminated in gold, silver and bronze. The possibilities are endless.

At the World Cup in Sydney the organisers floated a Toyota car on an island built at the far end of the 50m pool. The car was a prize for a world record swim. In the 100m butterfly, Michael Klim duly obliged and swam out to the island to lean on his new Toyota. The crowd went wild. It was just the sort of thing good sport thrives on. The next day Jane and I were flying back to New Zealand. As we walked through Sydney airport Jane saw a KLM 747. She said, “Look, Michael Klim even has his own airline”.  

Some rules might need to be changed for 25m Olympic swimming. For example, to avoid races becoming a test of underwater kicking the distance allowed after each turn may need to be reduced to 10m. But all of that is easy to accommodate.

Swimming has always bemoaned the fact it is not a “spectator” sport. Swimming drug addicts like me love it. Whether races are in a 25m pool, or Lake Taupo, I’d happily turn up to watch. But if swimming wants to attract the average sport spectator, then a 25m pool is the place to do it. There is a very good reason the International Swimming League chose to introduce their new competition using 25m pools. They make for a more exciting sport. The IOC would do well to follow their lead.

Second the change to robots and cameras. How many times have you heard and read swimming officials complain about the mass of people they need to recruit to run a swim meet? Every swim meet I’ve ever been to is held up at the start by announcements that, “three more timekeepers are needed before we can start”. To staff a meet according to the rules takes an army of about 50 officials. It is ridiculous. The answer? Do away with officials altogether.

Timekeeping would be the easiest thing in the world to automate. After all you never see timekeepers standing at the end of a Formula 1 race or floating on a barge at the end of an America’s Cup final. Timing in these sports has been automated for years. Swimming could easily do the same. And as for judging, above and below the water video cameras could do a far better job of judging legal strokes and turns than a human being 20m away from the scene of the crime. Even a starter could be made redundant by automation. Attention could and should focus on the competitors, not the parade of officials. And consider this, Swimming New Zealand could save a fortune in buying 100 official t-shirts for every meet.

Well done FINA. You have screwed up many things in the pastrug. Drugs and Putin and money security have not been your proudest moments. But 25m pools and automation are two good ones. Let’s go.