Birmingham City Council has bought an Olympic training pool used by stars Rebecca Adlington and Michael Phelps during the London Games.
Birmingham’s £200,000 bid for the tank, heating system and filters was successful – meaning it will be packaged up and rebuilt in the city.
The pool was one of nine pools used by athletes during the 2012 Games.
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It is now set to be installed in the replacement building for the derelict Sparkhill Pool which closed in 2009 after the discovery of asbestos.
The new pool and leisure centre is set to include not only the six lane 25 metre training pool, but a fitness suite, dance studio, community room and sauna and will open in September 2015.
Council deputy leader Ian Ward said: “Our successful bid for one of the pools from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games means that we will soon have the chance to literally immerse ourselves in the Olympic legacy!
“Not only is that an exciting prospect for anyone who was fired up by 2012, but it is also coming to Birmingham at a fraction of the cost of a new pool.”
Sparkhill is one of six pools and leisure centres to be built in the city over the next three years at a total cost of £36 million, replacing nine out-of-date facilities which will be closed.
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The council has also announced that three organisations have come forward with successful business plans to operate the new leisure facilities over the next 15 years, not only at zero cost to the council, but paying annual management fees and perhaps a share of the profits.
The business model has already proved successful in the recently rebuilt Harborne Pool, run by DC Leisure and the seven municipal golf courses run by not-for-profit group MyTime Active.
Council leader Sir Albert Bore said: “At the moment subsidies for sports and leisure facilities are huge. The new centres will be run without subsidies and we can meet the running costs.
“This shows how we are being innovative and that even in a period when we have to make drastic cuts we can still come forward with improvements to services.”
Five more pools will be built at Ickneild Port Loop, Erdington, Stechford, Shard End and Northfield/Longbridge. The nine older facilities set to close are Newtown Pool, Colmers Leisure Centre, in Longbridge, Erdington Leisure Centre, Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath, Northfield Pool, Shard End leisure centre, Stechford Cascades and Tiverton Pool in Selly Oak.