Q&A: ‘Lap’ vs ‘length’

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we're going to great lengths…

Q: Hi AWC, I was watching the Olympics swimming recently, and I have a question for you.

A: Is it about the “freestyle” swimming stroke?

Q: No, but now I’m curious.

A: Well, as the name suggests, a swimmer can do ANY stroke in an individual freestyle event – they’re literally free to choose any style! The reason everyone chooses what is technically known as the “front crawl” (sometimes “Australian crawl”) is that it’s the fastest.

Q: Oh wow. So if someone came up with something faster, swimmers could use that?

A: Absolutely! Much like Dick Fosbury stunned the world by high jumping backwards (rather than a straddle) at the 1968 Olympics. The “Fosbury Flop” has been widely used ever since.

Q: I love Olympic fun facts!

A: They’re great. But what WAS your swimming question?

Q: I keep hearing people talk about “laps” and “lengths”. So is a lap one or two lengths?

A: Ahhhh, good question. So let’s start with “lengths” – because that one is not controversial. 

Q: Uh oh.

A: Yeah. A “length” in a lane-swimming pool is simply from one end of it to the other – first defined as such in 1903. But there is no universal “length” – an Olympic-sized swimming pool length is 50m, but it will be only 25 metres at many recreational public swimming pools.

Q: So if I do eight lengths at the Olympics, I have gone 400 metres?

A: That’s right. Eight lengths of 50m. And you better be under 4 minutes, or no medal for you.

Q: But eight lengths at my local 25m pool is only 200 metres?

A: Correct. It’s that simple – and that vague. “Eight lengths” is all dependent on where you swim – like climbing “eight floors” might be different depending on the number of the steps and a building’s floor height etc. 

Q: Yeah, I get that. A length is simply the measure of “one end of the pool to the other”.

A: Exactly.

Q: What about “laps” then?

A: This is where it gets trickier. You see, the idea of a “lap” first took hold on a track (for people, horses, cars etc). “A turn around a track” in a distance race was first defined as a “lap” in 1861. 

Q: Oh, that was the first year of the Melbourne Cup!

A: Sure, but it didn’t come from that. In fact, the only precise lap you’ll find there is Phar Lap.

Q: But a 400m running race is a lap, yeah?

A: That’s right – originally 440 yards, this is what most of the sporting world think of when you talk about “laps”. A mile is a little over four laps of the track, etc. 

Q: So, in a track race, to complete a “lap” means that you come back to where you started, yes?

A: That’s right. In car races it’s the same, and lap times are a big part of qualifying. A race will typically be defined by “completing a course” (one lap) a certain number of times. 

Q: Ah yes, like the Bathurst 1000 and Indianapolis 500!

A: Well yes, but hilariously, neither of those numbers is the lap count. Indianapolis laps are 2.5 miles each, so 200 laps gives it the namesake 500 miles. Meanwhile, Bathurst is 1000km – with each lap around 6.2km, so you end up completing exactly 161 laps.

Q: I suppose the Bathurst 161 didn’t sound as good.

A: Indeed. Even running races define themselves by distance – e.g. 10,000 metres rather than 25 laps.

Q: So if all of these laps require you to return to where you started, then surely a “lap” in the pool should be defined as TWO “lengths”, yes? Out and back again?

A: Some agree with you on that. However, the simple truth is that swimmers swim in straight lines, not in a circle. So “completing a course” for a swimmer is to go from one end to the other. The Olympics themselves claim that “a lap is one length of the pool”.

Q: Ugh, seriously? But maybe it’s because those pools are 50 metres, so an Olympic-defined “lap” in a 25-metre pool would be out and back, or two lengths? 

A: Again, some cling to this idea. But usually regardless of pool size, most competitive swimmers simply equate a length with a lap. Same thing.

Q: I have a headache.

A: Where people seem to go wrong is in equating “completing a course” to a racetrack. While Macquarie Dictionary defines a lap as “a single round or circuit of the course in racing”, it never mentions swimming. However, Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a lap as “the act or an instance of traversing a course (such as a racing track or swimming pool)”. 

Q: Hmmm, traversing huh…

A: That’s right. Traversing a running track might be akin to returning to the same point, but in a swimming pool, traversing is crossing – reaching the other end. Certainly swimmers in the 50-metre Olympic freestyle event think so.

Q: So 50-metre swimmers swim one lap, not half a lap?

A: According to the Olympics and swimming logic, yes they do.

Q: Yet if I were to swim 50 metres at my local 25-metre pool, I’d complete two laps to do so?

A: Yes you would. Different venue, different lap count. Remember, just like a length, a lap is never a set number – it could be 25m, 50m, 400m, or 6.2km etc. It’s best to stick with the “traversing a course” definition. You’ll find more examples of “laps” in Formula 1 racing – Melbourne’s laps are around 5.2km long, Singapore’s 4.9km, Monaco’s 3.3km and so on.

Q: Okay, to sum up, a “lap” is about traversing a particular course, not necessarily arriving back at the same place. And in swimming, traversing means going from one end of the pool to the other.

A: That’s right. One length is one lap. Even sports watches that measure swimming will use this metric for simplicity, and you’ll program in the pool length. 

Q: It sounds like maybe the best thing to do is not mention laps in relation to swimming at all.

A: Good idea! Most of the official national swimming guides only ever refer to “lengths” or specific distances (100m, 400m etc) to avoid any confusion. And languages other than English have no issue, because they never had to deal with this pesky word “lap” in the first place. 

Q: Well, this went swimmingly. 

A: Quite the lengthy deep dive.

Q: Actually, speaking of swimming pools and the Olympics, next time I’d love to discuss the sport of Water Polo. 

A: What about it?

Q: Specifically, how do the horses hold their breath for so long?

A: …

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