LEGACY OF CHAMPIONS

Crystal Pool. Where Champions Trained.

The Crystal Pool, located at Vancouver’s Sunset Beach, was home to some of B.C.’s best swimmers. The posh saltwater pool opened in 1928 as part of a private club called the Connaught Beach Club. There were plans for tennis courts, Turkish bath, and a ballroom but the operators went broke, and the contractors finished only the pool. Between 1931 and 1955 Percy Norman, considered Canada’s foremost authority in swimming and diving, served as head coach of the Vancouver Amateur Swim Club at the Crystal Pool. He coached the 1936 Canadian Olympic swim team and the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games …