July 2021: Gym Chain Pool Checks and a Net Loss of 66 Listings
In July 2021 we checked the pools in the Gold's Gym and former DW Fitness listings, then carried on with England. Closures left us with a net loss of 66 listings, and the Tokyo Aquatics Center is our Pool of the Month.
July 2021 began with checks on the pools in two gym chains and ended with a net loss of 66 pool listings. Our Pool of the Month in this update is the Olympic swimming venue in Tokyo.
Listing checks
We spent the first days of the month checking the status of the pools in the Gold's Gym listings. Just over half of those clubs no longer listed a swimming pool among their amenities, so we removed them; most were in Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. The remaining 44 still list pools and stay on the site.
We then checked the listings formerly operated by DW Fitness, a UK chain that went out of business. Most DW locations were taken over by Everlast Fitness Clubs, so we lost only eight listings as a result of the bankruptcy.
For the rest of the month we continued updating the listings in England. We are about halfway through Northumbria, and about 630 English listings, one-third of the total, remain to be reviewed.
Pool of the Month
Our Pool of the Month for July 2021 is the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Tokyo, Japan. For the last two weeks of the month the Olympic Games, postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, focused the world's attention on its swimming, diving and artistic swimming events. We first featured the center in November 2020; our profile of the Tokyo Aquatics Center describes how it was built for the Games.
Koto-ku, TokyoThis facility, which was built for the (postponed) 2020 Tokyo Olympics, seats more than 15,000 spectators and cost over US$ 530,000,000!
Featured pool
Tokyo Aquatics Center | 東京アクアティクスセンター
Tokyo, Japan
- Drop-in
- Up to 2½ hours ¥700. [March, 2024]
- Pools
- 50m x 25m, 10 lanes, with a movable bulkhead to create two, 25m, 10 lane tanks, depth adjustable from 0m to 3m, indoor
- 25m x 25m, 5m depth diving pool, indoor
- 50m, 10 lanes, with a movable bulkhead to create two, 25m, 10 lane tanks, depth adjustable from 0m to 3m, indoor