Premiere in the USA! For the first time, the qualifying tournament for the Olympic team events in swimming will take place in an NFL stadium

In June, the city of Indianapolis will host the qualifying tournament for the 2024 Olympic team swimming competitions. Not the first time. The last time such a tournament was held in “Indy” was in 2000.

What is new, however, is the exact venue. As the city announced on its website, the athletes will compete from June 15 to 23 at the Lucas Oil Stadium – the home venue of the NFL franchise Indianapolis Colts.

Over 1,000 athletes and 500 coaches are expected to attend. A total of 52 places will be awarded for the USA Olympic team. New for 2024 and based on the competition schedule in Paris, the event comprises nine days of competition with 17 heats (eight heats, nine finals). The city is expecting over 250,000 fans in total.

As the “IndyStar” writes, three swimming pools are to be built on the grounds of the stadium. According to “CB4 Indy”, the construction work will take three weeks. Quite a challenge. However, the organizers have experience in converting sports facilities. The last four editions of the qualifying tournament took place in a basketball arena in Nebraska.

“The good news is that we have experience building temporary pools for the Olympics,” said Shana Ferguson, head of publicity for event organizer USA Swimming. “We’ve done it five times, the past five Olympics have been in temporary pools. The reason is that there is simply no swimming stadium in the United States large enough to host a competition of this magnitude,” Ferguson continued.

The 33rd Olympic Games will take place from July 26 to August 11. After the 2020 Games stopped in Tokyo, the French capital Paris will now follow