Bermuda’s first 50-metre swimming pool is near completion and should be ready to host events by next spring, Youth, Families and Sports Minister Glenn Blakeney confirmed yesterday.The Aquatics Centre, built on the centre concourse at the National Sports Centre at around $20 million, had only a few gallons of rain water at the bottom of the Olympic-size pool yesterday, but will hold nearly 900,000 gallons of water when it is filled to capacity.While primarily a pool for the Island’s competitive swimmers, Minister Blakeney stressed that the facility will be used by many persons in the community, including divers looking to follow in the footsteps of Katura Horton-Perinchief who was the first black female diver to compete at the Olympics.“There are many persons in our community who no doubt will take advantage of this 50-metre pool,” said Blakeney. “People such as Roy-Allan Burch who competed in the 50 metre freestyle during the London Summer Olympics, or Kiera Aitken, Julian Fletcher and Lisa Blackburn who have all set Bermuda national swimming records, or our many young swimmers such as the members of the Bermuda national swim team who brought home a staggering total of 12 medals from the 2012 Carifta Swimming Championships held in the Bahamas during April of this year.“That team set an awesome 51 personal best times and one national record, and had among them none other than Jesse Washington who won a total of seven medals for Bermuda.“Whilst I expect that competitive swimmers will welcome the opportunity to use this marvellous facility, it is very important to emphasise that it is not intended that it become exclusively the domain of elite athletes. In this regard, we envisage that the Aquatics Centre will become a major hub for community-based aquatic activities, including recreational swimming for youth, seniors, schoolchildren and other members of our community.”Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association, the local governing body for swimming, will use the facility for competition, though there have been some difference of opinion as to the design.“With regards to consultation, collaboration and cooperation we have engaged BASA during the course of this project and, particularly in the beginning there was some difference of opinion but I have full confidence in my Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Sports Centre and not withstanding the expertise from abroad,” said Blakeney.Another sport — albeit one with a small number of competitors — is platform diving which Horton-Perinchief used to gain Bermuda international exposure at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. She currently serves as a member of the National Sports Centre Board of Trustees.“There’s no better time than now to inspire a new generational of divers with Olympic aspirations and this first class facility forms part of the essential infrastructure to make that happen,” said Blakeney who stressed that the focus will be on providing “an optimum blend of programming that provides for all aquatics needs of the Bermuda community”. It is also intended that the facility be used for international aquatics training and competition.The Board of Trustees have overseen the construction of the Aquatics Centre which used both “foreign expertise and highly trained local tradespersons.”Trustees Chairman Sean Tucker said he was delighted with the progress being made on the Centre and with what the facility will offer when completed.“We are currently standing adjacent to what is quite simply the largest swimming pool ever built in Bermuda,” said Tucker.“Bermuda is incredibly fortunate to have such an impressive facility to cater to our recreational and sporting needs. In many regions of the world, only those with very large populations have facilities the size and scope of our new aquatics facility.“To give an example based upon research through the Swimmers Guide, one of the leading aquatics resource guides in the world, it describes a total of 39, 50-metre pools in the UK. That means that each 50-metre pool caters to in excess to 1.6 million residents. In Canada and the US the numbers are lower but not significantly so. The Aquatics Federations in those countries indicate more high performance aquatic athletics are developed in 50-metre pool than smaller types.“Our aim and goal will be to foster use of the pool that will stimulate an active, healthy lifestyle for Bermudians while at the same time cater to development of athletes in a safe, secure environment. We will work with the tourism industry to encourage training camps and to host swim meets.”