The North Sydney Olympic Pool is a swimming and exercise complex located adjacent to
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
at
Milsons Point
Milsons Point is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of North Sydney Council.
Mil ...
between the
Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...
and
Luna Park
Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks. They are named after, and partly based on, the first Luna Park, which opened in 1903 during the heyday of large Coney Island parks. Luna parks are small-sc ...
.
Designed by architects Rudder & Grout in the
Inter-War Free Classical style with
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
-style decorations, the Olympic-sized outdoor pool was built on part of the
Dorman Long
Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. It was once listed on the London Stock Exchange.
History
The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired ''West Marsh ...
workshops site following the completion of the Harbour Bridge. The pool opened 4 April 1936 and hosted the swimming and diving events for the
1938 Empire Games. Heating was added in 2000 and a indoor pool was added in 2001.
Eighty-six world records have been set at the pool by such swimming greats as, for example,
Jon Konrads and
Ilsa Konrads
Ilsa Konrads ( lv, Ilze Konrade; born 29 March 1944) is an Australian former freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. In her career, she set 13 individual ...
,
Lorraine Crapp
Lorraine Joyce Thurlow, (born 1 October 1938), née Crapp, is a former Olympic swimming champion representing Australia. In world swimming history, Crapp earned a place as the first woman to break the five-minute barrier in the 400 m freestyle ...
,
Frank O'Neill,
Judy Joy Davies,
John Devitt
John Thomas Devitt, AM (born 4 February 1937) is an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He won in controversial circumstances, bein ...
,
Shane Gould
Shane Elizabeth Gould (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In 2018, she won the fifth season of ''Australian Survivor,'' becom ...
and
Michelle Ford
Michelle Jan Ford (born 15 July 1962) is an Australian former long-distance freestyle swimming, freestyle and butterfly swimming, butterfly swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle, bronze in the 200-met ...
.
In 1960, at the Australian National Swimming Championships and Olympic Trials, the most world records were set in the one pool at the one meet ever.
It closed on 28 February 2021 to allow for construction of a replacement pool and associated buildings. It is scheduled to reopen in 2023.
Grave concerns: North Sydney orders probe into pool revamp
''Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' 11 October 2022
References
External links
*
Sports venues in Sydney
Swimming venues in Australia
Stadiums of the Commonwealth Games
1936 establishments in Australia
Sports venues completed in 1936
Commonwealth Games swimming venues
Milsons Point, New South Wales
Art Deco architecture in Sydney
North Sydney Council
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