Water at the Olympics

Excitement is building for the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, especially as we cheer on Louisville Water-sponsored athlete Zach Harting! He will represent Team USA and the city of Louisville in the 200-meter butterfly at the Tokyo games. Opening ceremonies will be held tonight, and we will be watching along with the rest of the world.

“…Ever since I was seven and I started swimming, my dream was to represent the U.S. at the Olympics,” said Harting. “Not a whole bunch of people get to turn their dreams into reality. I’m really grateful for that…That’s just dreams coming true.”

Water plays a big role in the Olympics, in terms of both health and competition. Here are some ways water is essential to the games this summer:

• An Olympic-sized pool holds 660,000 gallons of water — that’s more than 4.2 million bottles of our drinking water, Louisville Pure Tap™ Many Olympic athletes train 20 to 30 hours a week.
• Proper hydration is crucial for them to perform at their best and often includes more than 120 ounces of water daily. Water sports make up more than 20 percent of all summer Olympic events.
• Water sports include swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming, canoeing, rowing, sailing, triathlon, and — new to 2021 — surfing!

Water sports have become official sports as the Olympics have grown. Swimming was added in 1986, water polo in 1900, diving in 1904, and synchronized swimming in 1984.

As many as 11,000 participants will flock to Tokyo for the Olympics. Although spectators to this year’s games will be limited due to the pandemic, the city is making sure there is plenty of drinking water by increasing water levels in reservoirs to keep up with demand.

Here in Louisville, we wouldn’t have to worry about that — we have an abundant supply of water with the Ohio River right here and can double our water production if we need it.

Cheers to Harting as he goes for the gold over the next couple of weeks. We will toast to him with the drink that fuels him — Louisville Pure Tap™!