Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre

incredibly rude and unhelpful staff, espcially management? melissa micchinati hung up on me after being rude and unhelpful on the phone to an easily fixable problem
avoid at all costs

I found the staff to be quite helpful, contrary to what other Unilocalers have said. Danielle is really helpful. She served me when I came here to swim last Sunday morning.
Better traction in the middle lane here. No need to worry about catching up with the other swimmers swimming laps in your lane. A great pool. Unlike the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, I had to go into the slow lane here once, and yet I enjoyed uninterrupted swimming, and achieving results in half the time than in the fast lanes at other pools.
Quite large and spacious. Great range of classes and learn to swim programs. The showers stay on until you turn off the taps in the change room facilities here. Soap is available too. Again a great pool. Fairly good rates. Location wise, excellent. Only a short stroll from Central train station.

ITAC used to be my local gym, and I’ve used the pool a fair bit too. I wish I could review these elements separately. 4 stars for the pool, 2 stars for the café, 3 stars for the gym.
THE POOL:
Quite a striking Seidler design. Architecturally speaking, this pool works better on the inside than the outside. On the outside it’s inelegant and reminds me of the bad old days of design in Darling Harbour. But on the inside … lovely … filtered sun comes into the building and it’s tall and airy. It always feels like summer inside. There’s a big Olympic pool, a kids’ pool, and a warm water pool which unfortunately is often closed for aquatic education. They also have a sauna and a steamroom, but you can only use those if you’re a member or if you pay extra. There’s a very sunny balcony and loads of kids running around everywhere. I really like this space but if you’re looking for resort style, poolside relaxation, ITAC is not the place to come. Think: lots of families, ice cream, splashes and aquatic education teachers in red rash vests.
THE CAFE:
This café is pretty average, and benefits from a bit of a captive market. The coffee is very ordinary and there’s nothing «gourmet» going on with the food. It’s pretty cheap though.
THE GYM:
This is a large, attractive gym space, with a good mix of new equipment. The group exercise room isn’t big enough and it’s poorly designed. Oops, would you like a load bearing column with your Body Attack workout? There are a few excellent instructors here, but generally I have found the instructors to be a bit below average. Some simply do not explain things clearly, and others are disorganised and don’t plan their classes well.
I dislocated my knee here, while doing a Combat class. I consider this karmic payback, since I was always showing off up the front of class in Combat, «ooo I’m sooo good, look at my roundhouse,» etc. etc. So I kind of deserved it. But I also kind of blame the floors a bit, which get slippery with even the smallest amount of liquid. And no, I don’t intend to sue anybody. The staff were quite supportive even though they were pretty befuddled by my injury.

A beautiful structure with outstanding facilities (pool, sauna, and steam room); although the staff could do with a course or two on customer service.

The Ian Thorpe Aquatic centre is an amazing structure pulsating out of the Harbour landscape, just a bit too far to easily walk to from the city. Unless, you go through the rabbit warren of behind the convention centre, over the tram tracks and up the stair to the back entrance.
If you’re a swimmer who’s new to Sydney you can try out the centre for roughly $ 6 for pool entry, and use of their facilities. The space is often filled with kids, and there’s some break out areas to see whether that age gap has made you a better swimmer — since you’ve upgraded from the floaties. Oh wait, that’s me.
Head up there if:
You’re interested in Architecture
You’ve requested PT’s to kick your ass
You think you can float in water.

Who wouldn’t be enticed to go for a swim here after seeing how beautiful the swimming area is? Stepping into the YMCA Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, I was blinded more by the stunning design rather than the bright-​white interior. I was fascinated by the ceiling, which looks as if it undulates like a wave. You can gain entrance into the pool on either a single or multiple visit pass. I believe it’s around $ 6 for an individual visit and $ 100 for 20 visits exclusively for use of the pool. Before you go, make sure to check the timetable for the lap lanes, as sometimes less or no lanes are available.
In addition to housing an Olympic-​sized swimming pool and sauna that are both open year-​round, this complex has a fully equipped fitness centre. The fitness centre and weight room is located a couple of flights down from the aquatic area, and has every type of equipment available. The space is well organized with cardio machines in one area, weights on the far end of the room, and a stretching area right by the entrance. The room is clean and bright from natural light during the day, as there are many windows. A membership doesn’t require a contract and is around $ 100 a month (plus a $ 100 joining fee).

First things first, it’s easy to spot! The curved roof can be seen from quite away, helped by the fact it’s on top of a hill, so navigating your way there shouldn’t be too much of an issue. If you’re looking to train for the Olympics, this is probably a good place to start — would you expect anything less from a pool that has Australia’s greatest swimmer’s name attached to it? Along with it’s 50m pool, it also has a more leisurely pool, which is great if you have small kids or just don’t fancy having to swim too far. There’s also a sauna and steam room, which are always good!
If you’re not a swimmer, there’s also a well equipped gym complete with personal trainers if you want to pay to be abused for being fat and unhealthy. They also have the usual array of classes (including Power Yoga, which sounds plain dangerous to me) as well as parents and toddler classes.
Membership rates are varied, but you can get casual entry rates that start at $ 6.40 for adult entry to the pool through to $ 17.50 for use of pool/​gym/​steam/​sauna (again adult — there are concession discounts), and you can purchase multi-​visit passes (adult 20 pool visits: $ 102.50) if you want to save a bit of money.

If you’re searching for a causal gym in the city, Ian Thorpe Aquatic Center is a good place to look. Let’s face it; signing your life away on a gym membership is never financially responsible. The majority of people who actually get their money’s worth are probably the equivalent of the amount of people who emerge from the womb with a perfect 6-​pack.
$ 6.40 will get you a daily pass into the enormous pools. If lap swimming isn’t your thing, $ 17.50 will grant you daily access to everything else inclusive of cardio equipment, weights and a full schedule of classes. I go on Mondays to take Body Combat at 5:45. It’s amazing what beating the shit out of an imaginary someone will do for your figure! I highly recommend this class as well as the Body Pump afterwards. And if you haven’t turned into a quivering pile of muscle by then, you can finish your workout with Body Balance at 7:30. Just make sure you hire someone to carry you home after all that.

The Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre is a huge and beautifully designed aquatic centre with the iconic wave-​shaped roof. And yes, you got it right, it was named after Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe.
They provide professional aquatic facilities and programs for those who want to learn to swim or improve their swimming skills. Aside from this, the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre is also a venue for relaxation, recreation, fitness and sports. They have a great gym that is available on a casual rate.
Interested? You can visit them everyday of the year except for Christmas Day and Good Friday. They are open from 6:00am to 9:00pm on weekdays and til 8:00pm on weekends and public holidays.

Fancy a swim in the middle of the city? Then why not head down to Ian Thorpe Aquatic. This Olympic size venue holds an Olympic size pool guaranteed to get your muscles working as you make your way through the warm waters…
Now if you’re not overly athletic and you’re just wanting to splash around — that’s available too. The swimming areas features three main pools — one for training, one for just chilling and and a small one for kids. in a way its a little bit of a water wonderland.
Like all public pools expect to be hit by the overwhelming smell of chlorine… it definitely smells like a public pool…
The facilities are pretty state of the art — and you do feel quite good walking into the space.
Now if you’re not in the mood for a swim, there is a gym downstairs which features your standard equipment for cardio, weight-​bearing and stretching. The aerobics rooms are quite small and fairly uninspiring.
Membership is quite expensive and depending how much you use it I wouldn’t suggest getting a contract — instead maybe opt in for an Adult Swim Pass — $ 102.50 for 20 visits or if you’re not even comfortable with that why not pay per session — $ 6.40.
A great place to take a break from city life…