Fue vs. Fue ie. Was vs. Went

Question

When I quizzed my Studyplan, one of the questions was:

"What does "Olivia fue a la piscina esta mañana." mean?

The correct answer was: "Olivia went to the swimming pool this morning.", which I got right, because 'ir' is followed by 'a' in this sentence.

I noticed that in the lesson all the examples using "ser" in the Preterito Indefinido were followed by either a noun or an adjective:

"Él fue alpinista en su juventud." (He was a climber in his youth.) In this case a "noun";

"Ellos fueron muy famosos el año pasado." (They were very famous last year.) In this case an "adjective".

My question is how would you say, "Olivia WAS at the swimming pool this morning."?

Would you say, "Olivia fue en la piscina esta manana."?, using "en" rather than "a"?

("Olivia fue la piscina esta manana." doesn't sound right at all.)

If this is the case, a few examples added to the lesson would be a great help.

Gracias y Saludos

Accepted Answer

Hola Shamrockhill
For "Olivia was at the swimming pool this morning" we need the verb "estar" (not ser) as we are talking now about "location", so this would be either:
Olivia estuvo en la piscina esta mañana. or
Olivia estaba en la piscina esta mañana.
Using ser (fue en la piscina) would be incorrect.
The reason I used either estuvo or estaba is because it will depend on whether the speaker is considering this action as a action with a beginning and an end or on the contrary is seeing this action as something that happened this morning without giving any relevance at all to when this action ended. 
Here is a Kwiziq lesson on using estar for location, and here is another Kwiziq lesson on the use of estar in the imperfect vs the preterite. 
I hope they help.
Saludos cordiales 
Inma

Answer

Gracias, Inma,Por supuesto! I should have known this. I have nearly completed the lesson on "estar for location".  I guess what threw me was thinking of "ser vs. ir" in the past tense rather than "ser" vs. "estar".  A good chance to review!Saludos

Answer

You need estar not ser if she was at the pool