9th Fina World Swimming Championships at the Men Arena, Manchester

The MEN Arena in Manchester is best known as aand 28 degrees Celsius.
pop and event venue hosting such acts as KylieBack in March 2007, AstralPool also built two pools for
Minogue and the Rolling Stones and so was thethe FINA World Swimming Championships held in
unlikely venue for the World Swimming ChampionshipsMelbourne and as in Manchester each pool held 1000
held in Manchester 9-13 April 2008.litres of water. During televised coverage of the
Not only was this the first time that a swimmingChampionships in Manchester, BBC swimming pundit
competition of its kind was held in the UK but TheSharron Davies, (former Commonwealth and Olympic
MEN Arena was the first events venue in the UK tomedal winner) told viewers how after the Melbourne
host such an event.meet the water was used to feed the plants in the
Although not an aquatic centre the MEN Arena wasnearby Botanical Gardens. Australia was and still is
able to facilitate this event because two giantexperiencing their worst draught in 8 years so once all
swimming pools, each 25m in length and holding 1000the chemicals had been removed from the water it
litres of water were constructed for the duration ofhad provided a much needed drink for the plants.
the Championships. The Spanish multinational companyThe Championships saw 17 world records being
AstralPool was employed by FINA, official partner andsmashed and was particularly successful for the UK
sponsor of the championships to build the pools and inteam who managed a medal tally of 24 (3 Gold, 10
order to construct the pools on time it required 3 shiftsSilver and 11 Bronze) and puts them in good stead for
of 50 people working 24 hours. Water was suppliedthe Beijing Olympic Games in August.
by United Utilities and each pool took 56 hours to fillThe next event at the MEN Arena is Celine Dion in
and six days to heat to a temperature between 25Concert beginning on 2nd May.