Calgary faces shortage of pools safe for competitive swimmers to dive into, university coach says
Review underway after Saskatchewan court awarded $9M to swimmer who hit bottom and became a quadriplegic
A Calgary swim coach says the city is facing a shortage of pools that are good enough for competition in the wake of a court ruling that awarded $9 million in damages to a swimmer who became a quadriplegic after diving from starting blocks at a university pool in Saskatchewan.
"Calgary is pretty far behind on pool-building compared to the rest of North America, so they should build some bigger pools," said Mike Blondal, head coach of the University of Calgary swim team.
Blondal said the university's pool is deep enough for competitive swims, but other local facilities are not up to snuff.
Concerns over pool depth have swirled since the incident in Saskatchewan, which took place in 2005, but has played out in court for more than a decade since.
Miranda Biletski dove into a pool from competition starting blocks during a swim practice when she was 16 years old, hit the bottom and fractured her cervical vertebrae, leaving her a quadriplegic.
Last fall, a jury found the University of Regina to be negligent.
The university argued during the trial that the pool's depth of 1.22 metres met Swimming Canada guidelines.
However, the International Swimming Federation, a world governing body for competitive swimming, now requires a minimum depth of 1.35 metres where swimmers will be diving from blocks.
Swimming Canada, the sport's governing body, only enforces that depth for new pools built after 2002.
Questions were also raised during the trial as to the actual water depth of the pool when Biletski dove into it.
Swimming Canada is now conducting a wide-ranging review of best practices for pools.
"There are several countries that are still at the old depth of 1.22 [metres]," said Swimming Canada CEO Ahmed El-Awadi.
"Our friends to the south in the U.S. are still using that depth. We still have that depth in our handbook. But we will be looking at that and we'll also be looking at alternatives. Other countries, like Great Britain, have modified their rules to dive off the side or to start in the water instead of diving off a block if a pool is a certain depth."
'There will be a shortage'
Recommendations from the review are expected in the next few months and Blondal expects they will result in higher standards, which he believes could pose a problem for many pools where local swimmers compete.
"There will be a shortage for competitive racing and I'm not sure what the solutions are at this point," he said.
The City of Calgary declined an interview request regarding the status of city-run pools.
In a email, a spokesperson said the city is waiting for Swimming Canada's review to be completed and, in the meantime, has put some restrictions on diving activities at city pools.
"All sites are to only allow the Swim Alberta registered competitive swim clubs to dive from the deep end of the main pool," Kaila Lagran wrote.
"These precautions are not permanent and will be reassessed once Swim Canada completes their review."
Ahmed El-Awadi said Swimming Canada will also work with swim clubs once the review is completed.
"We will be looking at providing alternatives to some clubs and to facilities that maybe don't have the depths that they need," he said.
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With files from Reid Southwick