Also, the important bit is fairness for all competitors. As the OP said, the same conditions affect everybody. I have little sympathy for the (few) swimmers complaining. They are not owed a world record and if they’re that good, they’re going to get one anyway.
Wouldn't the sides affect swimmers on the edge lanes next to them more? And is this one reason why the strongest swimmers are usually placed in the center lanes?
From the races I saw they specifically had the edge lanes (left most, right most) empty probably for this reason. I.e. 8 out of 10 lanes are used. I think one of them did have someone in one of those lanes because one of the qualifying heats was a dead heat.
Given the other comments I must be missing something, but wouldn't it be pretty much fair? The end swimmer gets one real neighbor and one simulated (reflection) neighbor from the wall. The middle folks have two real neighbors creating chop.
