Parents of children who train at the Limassol Olympic Swimming Pool protested outside the facility on Wednesday morning over its closure, demanding an immediate solution.
The pool has been shut since August 30 after problems caused by a downpour. According to information from the Cyprus Sports Organisation (CSO), part of its plant room was damaged. The parents say they are not satisfied with what they have been told so far, and want CSO to keep its commitment to repair the damage and reopen the pool within six weeks.
It is the only 50-metre pool in Limassol. Athletes from three clubs train there, about 800 swimmers and 400 water polo players in all, according to Dr. Ioannis Thrasyvoulou, whose child plays water polo.
Dr. Thrasyvoulou said the parents felt they had not been properly informed about the progress of repairs, and decided that nobody would take notice unless they made the problem public. He said they had heard nothing about when the pool would be fixed until midday on Tuesday, and that the protest had already been planned.
He said hundreds of children were falling behind in training at a critical time of preparation. September is an important month both for getting athletes ready and for signing up new children, he said.
Training elsewhere
In the meantime, athletes have to travel to other pools. Water polo players are using the indoor pool at Tsirio, which is 25 metres long, compared with the Olympic pool’s 50 metres.
Thrasyvoulou said it was hard to train intensively in an indoor pool, and that there were also problems with ventilation and training times, with sessions running until 10:40pm.
He said the late hours made life harder for pupils. He picks his son up at 10:40pm, they get home at around 11pm, and his son has to eat and be asleep by midnight to get up for school, while pupils are also expected to do well at school and excel in sport.
Asked what parents would do if the pool did not reopen within six weeks, he said: “Basically, we’re left hanging. There is no plan B. There is no other pool.”
The parents are calling on CSO and the relevant authorities to treat the issue as a priority and make sure the work is finished on time. Thrasyvoulou said he imagined the parts and technical know-how needed to repair a pool’s plant room were available.
