Sport
How long are competition pools for FINA events?
Human swimming
Swimming as a sport predominantly involves competition among participants to be the fastest over a given distance under self propulsion. Different distances are swum in different levels of competition. For example, swimming has been part of Olympic Swimming since 1896, and the current program contains events from 50m to 1500m in length, across all four main strokes and medley. The sport is governed internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA), and competition pools for FINA events are 25 or 50 metres in length. In the United States of America, USA Swimming is the governing body and a pool 25 yards in length is commonly used for competition. There are other swimming and water related sporting disciplines including diving, synchronised swimming and water polo, as well as sports which include a swimming element, such as triathlon and modern pentathlon.