Olympic Swimmers Fess Up to Dirty Secret: We All Pee in the Pool

There’s something nasty in the water at the Paris Olympics—and no, it’s not a giant shark.

A Wall Street Journal investigation has uncovered what it calls “one of the dirtiest secrets of the Olympic Games: Everyone pees in the pool.”

That’s right. The world’s best swimmers, the elite of their sport, all pee in the pool. And they don’t mind admitting it.

“I’ve probably peed in every single pool I’ve swam in,” three-time U.S. Olympian and former gold medalist Lilly King, told the newspaper. “That’s just how it goes.”

Also fessing up to the Journal reporter at La Défense Arena was butterfly racer Zach Harting, who represented Team USA at the Tokyo Games three years ago. Harting recalled the first time he ever peed in a race, at a high school state championship in Alabama, when he realized he would have no time to go the toilet because he was already wearing his super-tight racing suit.

“The world changed for me,” Harting said. “Every time I went to a pool after that, I only considered myself to have swam in it if I peed in it.”

What the Last Paris Olympics Looked Like in 1924

Swimmers insist that it’s not just a “lack of decorum” that makes them pee in the pool. “At important competitions, swimmers hydrate until the last possible moment while also wearing ultra-tight suits meant to compress their bodies into the most hydrodynamic shape possible. It makes for a dangerous combination,” the Journal explained.

And even though everybody’s at it, they try to follow one simple rule if they need a to pee in the pool: not to do it when someone’s right behind them. “You never want to swim through a warm patch,” said freestyler and four-time Olympic medalist Cullen Jones.

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