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ANNEXE
SWIMMING VENUE
Zoning and Operations
April 2022
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Zoning and Operations

1. THE VENUE

Equipment owned by the facility shall be maintained, sanitized, and disinfected by the facility
owner/personnel.

In particular, the OC must ensure that the venue provides the following:
• Signage indicating physical distancing recommendations on self-protection, hand washing and
coughing etiquette, posted in the venue entrance and throughout the facility.
• Venue entrance and exit doors and pedestrian flow into and throughout the facility, clearly indicated
where necessary with floor markings to show physical distancing requirements.
• All official accredited zones (athletes’ area, media, working spaces, field of play), must accommodate
physical distancing requirements and provide masks, disinfecting wipes and alcohol-based hand
sanitizers.
• All confined spaces should have adequate fresh air ventilation.
• A venue medical facility should be provided to accommodate routine medical services, offering
secure, confidential assessment of athletes and officials. In the unlikely event of an athlete or official
suddenly presenting with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 infection, this medical facility could
double as an isolation room.

Personnel from the same team delegation are permitted to sit together and spectator seating for athletes,
officials and other accredited FINA-accredited participant should conform with standards for physical
distancing.

The presence of public spectators will be agreed by the LOC and FINA and in accordance with the prevailing
standards set by the local health authority.

Bins and/or containers must be available in numerous venue locations for all disposables.

1.1. Zoning

A concept of zoning is recommended to reduce the interaction between the different Participants to a
competition. The Venue shall be divided in 5 zones (see figure hereafter). The zones must be clearly
separated and, where in the same stand, should have a minimum of three rows between them.

Zoning access must be clearly identified on individual accreditation and access must be enforced. Some
essential workers (e.g. medical or anti-doping) may require “all zone” access. These decisions should be
agreed in advance by the OC, Competition Manager, the OC COVID-19 Officer and the FINA COVID-19 Task
Force Representative / Medical Delegate.

A complete accreditation list of all personnel directly involved in the competition and their zone access must
be established in accordance with the above process.

Zoning color (red/orange/yellow/green/blue) must be clearly marked at the venue with sufficient staff
available to enforce the policy.

Separate, clearly identified toilets should also be allocated in each zone.

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Zone Area Group

Red Competition pool, Training Pool, Athletes and supporting personnel

changing rooms and treatment Sport Officials (Judges, referees, etc.)
rooms, Doping Control Station, FINA Representatives
Medical Room, Toilets and FOP Doping Control Staff
Access Competition Manager
Lifeguards
Orange Selected area on the FOP Photographers
TV Production/Cameras
Limited staff of Timing/Scoring
Medical Services
COVID-19 Officer
Security
Yellow Stands, OC and FINA Family Venue’s speaker/announcer
Offices, Timing/Scoring Office Teams delegations
TV Production
Fire Service
Police/Security
Green Stands Media
Media Manager
Floor Manager

Blue Stands Spectators (if allowed)

Security / Marshals

Please refer to the venue Map at the end of the document.

1.2. Swimmers and Delegations Arrival

Access to the pool should be via dedicated ‘zone’ entrances (red, orange, yellow, green), no mixing is allowed.

Swimmers and officials (red zone) should be dropped immediately by their entrance. If any walking is
necessary, there should be clear segregation of the swimmers/officials, and no mixing with anyone else.

A fixed time of arrival to the event should be scheduled to prevent crowding of athletes at the entrance.

1.3. Changing Rooms

Swimmers and Technical Officials should be allocated changing rooms that are large enough to allow for
sufficient space between seats to ensure physical distancing is respected.

Swimmers and Technical Officials should be allocated their own toilets, which remain out of bounds to
anyone else. When flushing the cover of the toilets should be closed.

Swimmers should be allocated separate treatment rooms when possible.

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Venue staff should ensure that the changing rooms, treatment rooms and toilets are thoroughly cleaned and
disinfected before the pool is open to anyone else.

To further reduce the risk of infection, at the end of the competition it is recommended that the athlete and
officials do not shower at the venue but return to their hotel or homes as quickly as possible to shower there.

1.4. Warming Pool / Preparations Area

All the swimmers/teams shall respect the physical distancing with the other swimmers/support personnel.

It is recommended to allocate one space for each federation or group of swimmers. This must be done by
the local OC (LOC) based on the registration, and not by the swimmer/federations themselves.

If a delegation has a massage table, it must be used only by their swimmers and not any swimmer outside of
this delegation. It must be cleaned after each massage.

1.4.1 Use of the swimming-pools

Remembering that chlorinated swimming pool water is considered a safe and COVID-free environment, the
major issue with swim training is the application of acceptable physical distancing. Clearly this will limit the
size of a swimming team able to use the pool at any one time. In general, we calculated that 10 square meters
per person is enough (8 swimmers in a lane of a 50m pool).

The following guidelines are examples of how this may be achieved. They may be applied to the warm-up
pool and the competition pool.

➢ Max 4 swimmers per lane (25m pool); 8 swimmers per lane (50m pool).
➢ Alternate start ends for each lane e.g. lane 1 start this end; lane 2 start far end.
➢ Min 5 sec gap between swimmers to ensure minimum 1m physical separation.
➢ Limit squad size to ensure maximum lane usage.
➢ Maximum of 80 persons in the 50m pool (excluding staff and trainers 1 per country)

Examples:

25m pool

Source: USA Swimming

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50m pool

Source: USA Swimming

Double lane

Source: Swimming Canada

1.4.2 Training

Physical distancing between athletes and training groups shall be organized and respected.

Physical distancing between athletes shall be respected during warm-up/training as feasible.

Coaches shall wear face masks and respect physical distancing with other people when in the same area.

For specific training rooms (weight room, dry land, etc.) and if applicable, the maximum number of persons
allowed at the same time shall respect the local rules (based on the size of the room) and physical distancing
of at least 1.5 meters shall apply.

1.5. Athletes' Lounge (if applicable)

Physical distancing shall be respected in the lounge.

It is advised not to have furniture (seats/tables) in the lounge to avoid having guests staying in the room for
too long.

For any food service, lunch packets or “grab and go” food is mandatory. If a buffet is proposed, an OC Staff
Member shall serve the food as no self-service will be allowed.

Personnel to hand out cutlery and dishes if needed.

The time spent in the Lounge must be kept to a minimum.

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1.6. Function Rooms

All Function Rooms shall be large enough to maintain physical distancing.

• Hand sanitizer or sink with liquid soap and paper towels must be available in every room.
• Tables and chairs shall be placed in a way to guarantee physical distancing between work spaces.
• Catering (if any): The OC shall provide individual drinks and snack boxes for each official, depending
on the duration of the Competition. Meal details and timings shall be discussed with the FINA
Delegates on site. Officials shall be advised to provide their own water bottle/thermos.

1.7. Medical Station

The Medical Station and First Aid Room will follow the principles set in the FINA COVID-19 Regulations.

All procedures must comply with the local Public Health Authority Regulations.

1.8. Doping Control Station

The Medical Station and First Aid Room will follow the principles set in the FINA COVID-19 Regulations.

The doping control procedures will be defined by ITA (International Testing Agency) in compliance with
WADA Guidance for Testing During COVID-19 Pandemic.

All doping control officers, and volunteers must respect the anti-COVID-19 precautions and wear masks and
gloves.

1.9. Media, Press Centre, and Press Conference Room

Media accreditation shall be prepared in advance.

✓ Masks/mouth-nose face protection must always be worn in Mixed Zone or Interview booth. It is
optional in the other areas but remains recommended.
✓ Accredited media representatives must be limited in numbers, taking into account physical
distancing and the available space.
✓ The Media/Press Centre and Press Conference Room must be prepared with at least 1.5 meters
between the seats and neighboring rows of seats.

If a Press Conference is organized then the following rules shall be applied:

• A maximum number of Participants must be limited by the size of the Press Conference space, under
the guidance of the OC COVID-19 Officer.
• No drinks or snacks will be provided for speakers.
• If wireless microphones are provided for media representatives, they should be cleaned after each
speak
• Each athlete should have his/her own microphone
• The first line of media should be at least 4 m distant from the head table, whilst the allocation of the
seats for the media should respect the rules of physical distancing.
• The table, the chairs and the microphones should be disinfected after the first team representatives
leave the room.
• Media participants shall keep the masks
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1.10. Field of Play (FOP)

The field of play is the whole area surrounding the swimming pools.

Waiting areas must be clearly identified with signage and floor markings near entrances to the FOP.

Supplemental field of play accreditation may be used to limit the number of persons having access to the
field of play area.

2. SPECIFIC PROCEDURE & PROTOCOLS AT SWIMMING COMPETITIONS

2.1. Call Room

Protocol before entering the competition area for the competitions needs to be adjusted to respect all the
sanitary precautions. The different call-rooms shall be adjusted to respect all the physical distancing.
Swimmers shall wear their mask at all times. Adequate ventilation is recommended.

2.2. Sport Presentation

It should be evaluated on how the sport presentation (entrance, sponsors bibs, etc.) is compatible with the
COVID-19 principles.

2.3. Baskets / Bags

The volunteers in charge of the swimmers’ apparels shall wear mask and gloves at all time.

2.4. Judges Considerations

Provide separate/more tables to maintain physical distancing protocols.

Limit volunteers/staff that may customarily sit at official’s table.

Provide cleaning supplies for frequent cleaning of electronic timing/scoring devices.

Technical Officials/judges meetings may be hosted via video conference.

Technical Officials Debriefs may also be held via videoconference.

Consult with the Meet Referee if an official becomes ill during a meet to discuss the process to inform the
official that she/he needs to leave the meet or move to an isolation area. The OC COVID-19 officer should be
informed and involved. The TSC is responsible for identifying replacement options and should notify the
Referee.

2.5. Coaches

Coaches should not be allowed on the pool deck during the competition.
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2.6. Photographers

The Host Federation/OC should allocate marked-out photo places in compliance with physical distancing
measures.

A maximum number of photographers should be set for each area, allowing for physical distancing measures.

2.7. TV Interview (Flash zone, Mixed zone)

The Host Federation media representative/media partner representative (‘supervisor’) are jointly
responsible for coordinating TV interviews.

Physical distancing rules must always be respected during the interviews (both in the mixed zone and when
accessing it for athletes/coaches). The Media representative shall keep the mask for interview.

For both flash and mixed zone interviews a 1.5m boom microphone should be used, so that the interviewer
can stand well back.

All microphone covers should be cleaned with an anti-bacterial wet wipe just prior to and between
interviews.

The microphone should not be held closer than 30cm to the face of the player/coach.

If any of the rules are breached or the swimmer/coach feels uncomfortable, an interview should be ended
immediately by the supervisor.

2.8. TV Production

The TV partners of the Host Federation are responsible for the TV production and their staff.

It is the TV Production’s responsibility to ensure that the Code of Conduct regulations are respected, as well
as all local COVID-19 Regulations.

All TV production staff will need to follow the same protocol as for other media, including temperature checks
at entrance.

All TV personnel operating inside the venue must wear a mask at all times.

TV personnel operating in the orange zone must ensure that they always remain at least 1.5m away from all
swimmers and officials, except where this is unavoidable and accidental during the competition.
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3. MEETINGS

The various meetings (e.g team leaders) related to the competition shall be split in different sessions to limit
the number of participants in the same space area.

Example: Team Leaders Meeting (countries from A to L) 10:00-10:30

Team Leaders Meeting (countries from M to Z) 10:45-11:15

The room must be prepared to allow at least 1.5 meters between the seats and rows of seats.

Masks / Mouth-Nose Coverings is recommended for all attendees.

4. ZONING FOR SWIMMING VENUE