Arrecife will have an excellent municipal pool next year, the first in the city's history. But unfortunately for some athletes, it does not have the official measurements required by the Spanish Swimming Federation (FEN) for the organization of official competitions. This was conveyed to LA VOZ yesterday by the representative and intermediary of the FEN in Lanzarote, Miguel Ángel Arbelo.
According to Arbelo, his personal friend, the vice president of the Federation, the Canarian Gregorio Socorro Soto, was willing to travel to the capital of the Island from Las Palmas to promote swimming as a competitive sport in Lanzarote. But apparently the local authorities did not show any interest in receiving the demands of the Federation, since from the beginning, the work was focused as a pool designed for citizens, and not for athletes.
It is a shame, especially from the point of view of athletes and swimmers, that this infrastructure has been wasted to relaunch swimming as an attractive sport for the people of Lanzarote.
The municipal pool, which will be located in the Puerto de Arrecife Sports Center in Altavista, measures 25 meters long, while the official measurements would require, in order to host competitions, dimensions of 50 meters long and 25 meters wide, in addition to having eight lanes and a minimum depth of 1.80 meters.
"The authorities of Arrecife have killed swimming in Lanzarote," Arbelo stated, explaining that the dimensions of the municipal pool will not allow the development of any of the aquatic sports, as they do not correspond to international measurements. Water polo, synchronized swimming, and other aquatic modalities will have to wait until a better occasion, or rather, they will fall into oblivion.
"By not having these official measurements, there will be no aquatic sport in Lanzarote," Arbelo lamented.
Apparently, the Canarian Federation itself is very interested in the Arrecife pool being Olympic, but the Department of Sports has not shown any interest in carrying out the project, opting for an eminently social version.
The objective that Arbelo has proposed "is not to create controversy, but to draw the attention of island politicians to reflect" and modify the measurements of the pool, in case it is not yet finished.
"I think it would be cruel for Lanzarote not to have a swimming team to participate in the regional championships of the Canary Islands, and that we cannot train an athlete to participate even at a global level."
Reaction of Luis Morales
LA VOZ contacted the Councilor for Sports of the Arrecife City Council to give his version of the events. Luis Morales was graphic in saying that it is a whim of the Federation, but that if "they put the money to make the pool, I will put the measures they want."
Morales explained that the pool is made for citizens, and not for the practice of elite sports. "It is a pool for all the inhabitants of the city, from 0 to 99 years old, and not only for athletes."
The municipal pool will measure 25 meters wide, which in Morales' words will mean an annual saving of at least 50,000 euros compared to if it were 50 meters. And that without taking into account the cost of making an approved pool. In addition, the minimum depth, and there the Councilor for Sports is certainly right without any doubt, would leave no possibilities for learning for amateur and novice swimmers. "Pensioners and children could not use the facilities, because they would not be able to stand," Morales explained.