Olympic swimmers inspiring people to get in the pool
Olympic swimmers have inspired over 20,000 more people to search for their local pool or swimming club since the start of the 2016 Rio Olympics, according to new statistics released today by the ASA (Amateur Swimming Association).
Since the first day of competition on 6 August, 56,500 people have accessed Poolfinder, the national governing body for swimming’s web app, to locate their nearest swimming pool or club. This is an increase of 53 per cent compared to the same period last month.
ASA Director of Participation, Nick Caplin, said: “The success of our Team GB swimmers in Rio is brilliant and is clearly inspiring people watching at home.
“Seeing the likes of Adam Peaty, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and the men’s relay team performing so well and winning medals is motivating people to find their local pool and have a go themselves.
“The great thing about swimming is that you don’t have to be an Olympian to do it. It doesn’t matter what age you are or your swimming ability, once you are in the water you can have fun playing games, swimming lengths or just relaxing.
“Of course, it’s not just our swimmers who are doing well in Rio. We’ve already won medals in the synchronised diving and we still have the individual events as well as the Synchronised Swimming competition, so there’s lots more excitement to come.”
Poolfinder can be used to locate a person’s nearest swimming pool or aquatics club. It also shows where particular programmes or swim sessions are being held, such as child or adult swimming lessons and aquatics fitness.
To access Poolfinder, people can visit www.swimming.org/poolfinder
