Swimmers from as far away as Australia enjoy reopening of Olympia Dundee

Swimmers from as far away as Australia were among the members of the public enjoying the reopening of the Olympia in Dundee on Monday.

The swimming pools welcomed their first visitors in more than two years following a closure for £6 million of repairs.

It followed swimming clubs returning to the centre last Monday.

Among the first getting to sample the revamped leisure centre was 11-year-old Tilly Webster, from Brisbane in Australia, who is visiting family in Tayport for six weeks.

‘I wanted to keep up my swimming while in Dundee’

Tilly – who went to the pool with mum Lyndsey – said: “I wanted to be able to keep up with my swimming while we’re in Dundee.

“When we discovered that the pools at Olympia were reopening just as we arrived here, it was brilliant.

“It has worked out perfectly for me and means I will be to swim regularly while I am here.”

‘Getting back in a 50m pool is going to make a huge difference’

Also enjoying a session at the pool on Monday was Dundee City Aquatics swimmer Micah van Blerk, 18, from Dundee.

Micah said: “It’s great to get back in.

“I’m a competitive swimmer and it’s been really hard training properly while Olympia has been closed.

“Getting back into a 50m pool for training is going to make a huge difference.

“I’ll be here pretty much every day during the Christmas holidays before I go back to university in Aberdeen.”

Fellow Dundee City Aquatics member Molly Grubb, 12, was also delighted to get back into the training pool.

She said: “I’ve been using the pools at St John’s and St Paul’s high schools.

“It’s been OK going there but not the same as training at Olympia.

“I’ve never actually used a 50m pool until now so it’s great to know that I can train in a proper competition-length pool.”

Molly’s mum, Ashley, said: “Getting back to Olympia also means that parents can play a much bigger part in their children’s swimming training.

“We weren’t allowed to go into the school pools to watch so it was hard to follow Molly’s progress.

“Being back at Olympia means we can go back to using the viewing gallery and watching what’s going on.”

Ahead of the reopening, an online booking system was launched for peak-time entry.

Off-peak swimming is also available between 10am and 4pm until Friday, which does not require booking.

The centre shuts between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, and again on January 1 and 2.